Full Ranma Panic
by Calamity Cordite
Summary: Ranma, tired of being fought over by girls that never bothered to ask what he wants, gets a better offer. The cost is high, but it's a way out. Joining Mithril might be the best thing to ever happen to him when he meets a certain girl who also joins up.
1. Recruiting

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

Full Metal Panic (anime)/Ranma 1/2 crossover (anime and what I've picked up from the events in the manga).

(Stolen) Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and the characters associated with it belong to Rumiko Takahashi and whomever she has sold the rights to. Full Metal Panic and it's associated characters belong to it's copy right holders. This work of fanfiction is not intended for monetary gain, but was written just for the fun of it.

Authors Note: This work is a fanfiction. To me that means that I, as the author, have taken some liberties with the characters. They are not exactly canon, but I tried to keep them close to keep the same basic 'feel'.

This work is also a departure for me, it will be my first series. This is something of a violation to a promise I made myself, to not post a work until it's complete in the rough draft phase. However, after working on it I realized that it would work well as an on going set of episodes, each with their own plot and climax. At the same time, there is a second thread to the story that I will try to progress with each installment. I will do my best to develop each arc to a good stopping point before I post so that should I, for some reason, drop dead or something, I won't have failed my obligation to you, the reader, in too terrible a way.

During the writing of this, I found myself cycling through several different tones. It runs the gamut from military sci-fi to romance to humor to angst to action. Some of it might be cliché. Some of it might be of the "Ranma is way too powerful" flavor. Some of it might even be sappy (hey, I like sappy). One thing it won't be is one scene after another of romantic frustration.

A little note on Akane. I like Akane. I don't think that she's a brutal sadistic maniac, like many people seem to portray her. Before, I saw Kaname Chidori, Akane was my favorite anime girl (next to Ranma). In this story, Akane has issues. Sorry, but it was necessary.

As with any good (IMHO) Ranma work, if you are offended by lesbian or limish situations, then perhaps you'd better not read this. Also, keep in mind, I write this stuff for my enjoyment. I share it with you for yours. I would also like to apologize in advance for any blunders concerning Japanese Culture. I try to do what research I can justify without interrupting the flow of my writing (since my muse is fickle at times), but having no actual experience, I try to make it sound reasonable to the average American (the presumed audience).

This has only been proofed by myself, and everyone who writes knows how difficult that is. Sorry if I missed anything.

And finally I'd just like to say, ARRGGHH, Sousuke is hard to write dialogue for!

_**Chapter 1: Recruiting **_

"Jeez, not those two again," Ranma muttered. For the last week it seemed like every time he looked up the blonde guy and the short haired chick seemed to be there. He wished they would just attack and get it over with. Their constant stalking was starting to get on his nerves. Always looking at him through binoculars, taking pictures, following him around. It was freaky. "I wonder what Pop did to them?"

Enough was enough though. He slipped around the corner and slipped into the Umisenken. Sure enough, the pair came around the corner and looked around.

"Where'd he go?" the blond haired guy asked.

"How the hell should I know?" the woman answered. "Probably started the roof-hopping shit again."

"You think he's on to us?" the guy asked.

"Could be," the woman said. "It's okay though, we've gathered enough intel on him. It's about time we make our move."

'I knew it,' Ranma thought to himself. 'They are gonna attack. Well, this time I'm gonna confront 'em on their ground so I don't get accused of destroyin' the dojo.'

Ranma followed the pair to an apartment building. They entered and climbed up the stairs to the sixth floor. He watched from the stairway as they opened a door and entered an apartment. He gave them a few minutes to make sure they weren't coming back out and then dropped the Umisenken. Walking to the door he'd watched them go through he thought about just kicking it in, like everyone did when they came after him, but he decided to just knock.

"Can I help you?" the blond man asked as he opened the door. If he was surprised to see Ranma, he didn't show it.

"Yeah, you can tell me what Pop did to ya, and why you plan on takin' it out on me?" Ranma demanded.

"I'm sorry I have no idea who you are, or what you're talking about," the man said.

"Don't lie to me, you jackass." Ranma snapped. "You and that chick have been stalkin' me for the last week. I wanna know why. Now start talkin'."

"It's okay Kurz, let him in," the woman said from behind the blond. "Look, Mr. Saotome, it's not what you think. Come in and we'll tell you everything we can, okay?"

The man, Kurz, swung the door wide and stepped back allowing Ranma to pass. The three entered a rather spartan living room that held a table and a bunch of hi-tech looking electronics in the corner. They seated themselves around the table.

"Okay, so talk," Ranma commanded.

"Mr. Saotome, we are not here to cause you any problems," the woman said reassuringly.

"Then what do ya want?" Ranma asked. The woman looked at the guy and he shrugged. Sighing, she turned back to Ranma.

"I am Sgt. Maj. Melissa Mao," the woman said. "This is Sgt. Kurz Webber. We are members of a privately run anti-terroist organization. The reason we have been following you is because you are being scouted for a possible recruitment offer. We could use an operative of your skills and the brass wants to see what a martial artist of your caliber can do with an Arm Slave."

"So your mercenaries?" Ranma asked.

"In a technical sense," Mao agreed, "but we are principled. Our leadership and our people are all good men and women that want to make a difference, protect the weak and innocent, and make the world a better place. Much like yourself, Mr. Saotome."

Ranma appeared to think about this. "Okay, I'm listenin'."

"If you accept the offer," Mao continued, "you will be taken to our base and trained in our doctrine and procedures. You will be taught military strategy and battle tactics. And you will be trained to pilot an Arm Slave. After that you will be assigned a duty station where you will be given missions. Sometimes these missions will be combat missions. Sometimes not. You will be paid a good salary and be paid bonuses for mission completion and achieving mission objectives. You will be advanced in rank based on performance, or necessity, which will carry with it more responsibility as well as higher salary and bonus grades. Though you will not be permitted to discuss the organization by name or give any details about what you do, you will be free to visit home as duty rotation permits. While on assignment or at the base, your food and housing will be provided. Your medical needs will be provided and paid for in whole. Though you will be under contract, you will be free to walk away at anytime. It's a really sweet deal, Mr. Saotome, and judging from what we have seen of your life here, I would think it would be a welcome break from the craziness of this place."

Ranma sat for a moment in thought before he said, "I have other obligations and I don't know if I'm ready to do what it would take to free myself of them," Ranma said carefully. "Can I think about this?"

"Certainly," Mao replied, and then handed him a card. "If you decide you want to join up, then call this number and we'll make the arrangements. Take as long as you need. We'll be there."

"Thanks," Ranma said getting up. "Oh, and...um...sorry about the hostility at first."

"No problem," Mao smiled broadly. "We're familiar with your situation and I can understand how you reacted. Thank you for listening." Ranma nodded and left.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma sat under his favorite tree at lunch doing something he had rarely ever done. He was thinking about what he wanted for himself. In fairness, he'd often thought about what he wanted 'right now', like he wanted not to wake up with a splash of water, he wanted to eat, or he wanted Kuno to stop chasing his girl form, or he wanted a cure for the curse, but this was different. Currently he was thinking about something it hadn't ever occurred to him to consider; what he wanted for the future. He was thinking about what he wanted to do with his life. His current options were; to marry Akane and become a homemaker/teacher in her dojo, for he had no illusions about whose dojo it would remain, to marry Ukyo and be a waitress/homemaker for her, or marry Shampoo and become a homemaker for her. It occurred to him that any of those options left him in the roll of the housewife. 'Mom probably wouldn't think that was very manly,' Ranma thought with disgust, both at his mother's ideas of manly and his apparent fate to be a housewife. 'Hell, I even got the body for it, best baby making hips in Japan after all.'

Now he had a fourth option, to become a soldier for this mysterious 'organization' and fight to make the world a better place. He liked the sound of that, unfortunately, the cost to pursue option 4 would be high. He would have to leave everything behind and start from zero, but he would be out clean, with no claims on him and he'd be pursuing a life that was far more appealing to him than the alternatives. The question was, was it worth...

"Ranchan, there you are," Ukyo said brightly, grabbing an arm and interrupting his train of thought. "Let me make some lunch for you!"

"Airen no want spatula girl's stupid pancake when he have too too good ramen Shampoo make for him," the Amazon warbled grabbing his other arm.

"RANMA, YOU JERK! I worked hours to prepare this bento for you and look at you, flirting with your floozies!" Akane yelled before charging him with her mallet as the other two girls fought a tug-o-war with his arms, inadvertently holding Ranma in place for Akane's coming blow.

"Fiend! How dare you insult the fair Akane, you enslaver of women!" Kuno cried. "I shall defeat you and then the fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and the pigtailed goddess will be free to bask in my manly love! Have at thee!"

Suddenly amidst all the tumult, Ranma's answer came to him clear as a bell. Yes, it would be worth it. Just as suddenly, Ranma became fed up with this same scene having been replayed on a daily basis. His battle aura, blazing hot, snapped into existence just as Akane's mallet began it's down stroke. The two other girl's yelped and let go of his arms. He reached up and plucked the mallet from Akane's hands and twirled around with it, slamming the onrushing Kuno over the head with it, driving him to his arm pits into the ground. With a scream of rage, he spun around in the classic hammer throw form and threw the mallet toward Tokyo Bay.

_**OOOOOOO**_

On board a certain submarine, a certain somber sergeant sneezed violently as he sat on the opened flight deck in a deck chair. Next to him sat a platinum silver haired girl, who was currently making eyes at him, though it seemed to escape his notice.

"Oh Sousuke, I'm so happy you agreed to this mission," the girl said sweetly.

Just then a large wooden mallet stenciled with the words Baka-Basher fell from the sky, impacting on the melancholy military man's face, sending him over backwards in the chair and tumbling across the deck in a heap.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Back at the school yard, the fiancées and the students had all frozen in shock. This wasn't how the scene was supposed to play out.

"GODDAMMIT!" Ranma roared. "I am SICK of you idiots fighting over me like I'm a piece of meat! Did you ever stop to think about what I WANTED? No, you DIDN'T! You're all too GODDAMN selfish to think about anyone but yourselves! Hell, you don't even CARE about me! You just want me so you can say you're better than the others, that you won the trophy! Well, I'm just goddamn tired of it! All of you just LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Nobody moved as Ranma turned and walked out of the school yard, needing to think.

"Scary," Shampoo said softly after he was gone.

"You think we might have pushed him too far?" Ukyo asked nobody in particular.

"Maybe a little," Akane answered.

"I fight on..." Kuno groaned in his mallet induced slumber.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma sat under the bridge thinking. He wasn't thinking about what he wanted. That decision had been make several minutes ago in the school yard. No, now he was thinking about how to execute what he knew, now, had to be done. It didn't make him happy, but it did give him a feeling he hadn't ever felt before, a feeling almost as good. He felt liberated. He took the card out that had that Mao woman's number on it. Looking at it briefly, he decided to go find a phone.

He walked out from under the bridge knowing now he was the captain of his fate, the master of his destiny. He was large and in charge. He was soaked by a sudden localized down pour and suddenly female.

With a glare at the heavens, she revised her plans to get hot water before finding a phone.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Having laid out all his plans, Ranma was currently engaged in phase one of his exit strategy. He slipped into the room of his live-in fiancée and crept up to her bed, slowly reaching out toward her sleeping body...and grabbed the small black pig snuggled up against her. Holding his hand over the pig's snout to silence any protest, he carried the porcine bundle down stairs and out the door, stopping to pick up the supplies he had gathered there just before he made the snatch and grab.

Moving quickly, he roof hopped his way to the school yard and landed lightly in the field. He held the pig up by his bandanna so they were face to face.

"Ryoga, we need to talk," Ranma said to the glaring pig. "Look, I have some hot water and some clothes here for ya, so don't run off when I put you down."

The pig glared angrily at him before slowly nodding. Ranma put the pig down and dumped the hot water from a thermos on him. As Ryoga began to get dressed, Ranma started talking.

"Okay, Ryoga," Ranma says seriously. "No ki attacks, no special moves, just you and me in a straight up martial arts fight."

"You're on, Ranma," Ryoga said smirking and cracking his knuckles.

The fight was characterized by the lack of the usual taunting from Ranma and screaming of death threats from Ryoga. Also different from their normal conflicts was the lack of explosions and the typical degree of property damage. When it was over they were both battered, bruised, and bleeding, and there had been no clear winner. Exhausted, they wordlessly agreed the fight was finished and sat down to catch their breath.

"Why, Ranma?" Ryoga asked.

"I'm leaving, Ryoga," Ranma stated flatly. "I just thought I'd give you the fight you wanted before I go."

"You're leaving?" Ryoga asked stunned. "For how long?"

"For good, Ryoga," Ranma said tiredly.

"But...but what about, Akane?" Ryoga asked, not sure if this was real or not.

"Take care of her, Ryoga," Ranma said. "Promise me?"

"Sure, Ranma," Ryoga said. "You know this is going to hurt her."

"Yeah, but it's for the best," Ranma said. "Our relationship was always pretty rocky, and lately, well, I just don't think we'd be happy together. Even after all this time, she doesn't trust me. I just can't help but think that even if we did marry, she'd still be jealous and suspicious every time another girl spoke to me. I just can't get it out of my head that the pattern of abuse will just continue. I don't want to have a relationship like that. As for the others, well, I'm just tired of their crap. I'm tired of getting treated like a trophy."

"Where will you go?" Ryoga asked.

"I'm not sure exactly," Ranma said. "I was offered a place with some sort of anti-terrorist group and I'm going to take it. I guess that's why I realized how tired of the crap around here I was getting. Before, I didn't have any options. Now that I've been offered an opportunity doing something that can make a difference, it's amazing how fast things around here got old, ya know?" Ranma laughed bitterly. "You know, Ryoga, if you play your cards right, you could become the heir to the Saotome school and end up engaged to Akane."

"Why? Wouldn't you still be the heir?" Ryoga asked perplexed.

"Nah, I'm giving it all up, Ryoga," Ranma replied. "I plan to give up the Saotome name and go ronin. I don't want Pop's past comin' back to haunt me anymore." Ranma stood and offered Ryoga his hand. "So, Ryoga, can we part as friends?"

Ryoga looked at Ranma's hand for a long time, thinking through what he had just been told. Looking up into Ranma's serious eyes, he took Ranma's hand. After Ranma pulled him to his feet, Ryoga relied.

"Okay, Ranma," Ryoga said. "Friends. But if I happen to see you somewhere, you know I'll have to kick your ass to make sure you're not getting soft, right."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ranma laughed. "Let's get back to the dojo. It's probably gonna get ugly tomorrow." Ryoga groaned in agreement at the pair made their way back to the dojo."

The next day, Ranma gathered the Tendos, the Saotomes, the Amazons, and Ukyo in the dojo.

"So what's this about, Ranma?" Nabiki asked with a smirk. "Did you finally decide on the lucky girl?"

"Something like that, Nabiki," Ranma grinned back at her.

The Shampoo and Ukyo started gushing about Ranma finally choosing them, then started arguing with each other about it.

"ENOUGH!" Ranma yelled, silencing them. "Now as to who I'm going to marry..." Everyone leaned forward intently. "My choice is..." They leaned forward a bit more. "None of the above."

There was the sound of several heads hitting the ground and then pandemonium ensued. Genma and Soun were demanding that he marry Akane. Ukyo was demanding that he marry her. The Amazon women were loudly making their case as well.

"Son, you must marry Akane," Nodoka said firmly.

"Why's that?" Ranma asked.

"Because it's a matter of family honor," Nodoka said.

"Why should that concern me?" Ranma asked a little harshly.

"Son, it's not manly to disregard your family honor," Nodoka said, seeking to intimidate Ranma by fingering her katana.

"You're right, it would be, if I had a family," Ranma concluded. Dead silence rang through the room.

"From this day forward, I am no longer Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts," Ranma intoned. "I renounce the Saotome name and the obligations and titles that go with it. I am Ranma. I am ronin."

"Boy! Enough of this foolishness," Genma shouted. "You will marry Akane and you will carry on the schools."

"Tell ya what, you ol bastard," Ranma said to him evenly. "If you think you can stop me, then how about you try." He cracked his knuckles and Genma gulped and sat back down as Ranma's battle aura ignited, sending waves of energy rolling through the room. "I'm sick of being chained to everyone else's dreams. I'm going to follow my own. I'm leaving. Kasumi, thank you very much for you're hospitality. I'm sorry for any trouble I've caused."

Ranma went up stairs to pack his stuff.

"Ranma?" Akane said softly, having followed him.

"Yeah, Akane?" Ranma replied.

"You...you're really leaving?" she asked sadly, stepping up to him.

"Yeah, Akane, I am," Ranma said. Suddenly she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Please don't go, Ranma," she pleaded, tears starting to roll down her face.

"I have to, Akane," Ranma said firmly, hugging her back.

"But I...I..." she stammered. He reached up and tapped the end of her nose.

"I know, Akane," Ranma said with a small smile. "Me too."

"But then why?" Akane asked tearfully.

"Because sometimes it ain't enough, Akane," Ranma said. "There's been too much interference. Too much hurting. Can you honestly say that you'd be happy married to me? Can you say that you wouldn't get jealous and mallet me every time a girl talked to me?"

Akane wanted to say that yes, they would be happy together and no, she wouldn't be jealous, but she couldn't. He was right. But losing him hurt so much. Seeing her answer, he smiled sadly and leaned down. He kissed her tenderly and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"It'll be okay, Akane," he said. "You find someone to love." He gently pushed her away and picked up his pack. Taking her hand he led her toward the door where Ryoga stood. He handed her hand to the lost boy. "How about give Ryoga a chance. He's a good guy."

Ranma slipped past them and out of their lives.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Kaname Chidori looked at herself in the mirror. She smiled as she adjusted her new bikini thinking there was no way Sousuke would be able to not notice her in this. She struck a pose and flashed a victory sign. Giggling, she threw on a beach wrap and headed out.

As she approached the place she was supposed to meet Sousuke, she noticed that Melissa Mao and Kurz Webber were there. She groaned at the thought of having to deal with the full of himself Sgt Webber. She also noted that Sousuke wasn't there.

"Hi guys," Kaname chirped. "Where's Sousuke?"

The pair looked uncomfortable for a minute then covered it up, but not quickly enough.

"The captain had a special assignment for him," Melissa said cheerfully. "We're here to keep you company instead." Kaname's face fell.

"Oh, I see," Kaname said softly. "I've lost him, haven't I? She understands him better than I ever will. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Hey, don't sweat it, babe," Kurz consoled. "After all, I'm here. Why would you want to hang out with that melancholy moron when you could hang out with me? Iteee!" Melissa removed her first from his head.

_**OOOOOOO**_

On board a certain submarine, a certain somber sergeant sneezed violently right before getting hit with a mallet from the heavens.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"You're not helping, Webber," Melissa said. "I'm sorry, Kaname. I really am. It's just that Tessa's approach of active pursuit finally got through to him."

"It's okay, Melissa," Kaname said with false cheer. "I guess it's my fault for waiting for him to notice me as a girl instead of a mission objective. I'm happy for them, really. Tessa is a really sweet girl. If I had to lose to someone, I'm glad it was her."

"Come on," Melissa said grinning, "let's hit the beach and drown those sorrows with some ice cream!"

A couple of hours later, the trio sat in the beach front ice cream shop while Kaname tucked into her third 'Death by Chocolate' ice cream.

"Say, Melissa," Kaname mentioned.

"Yeah?" the dark green haired sergeant asked.

"Do you think it would be possible for me to join Mithril?" Kaname asked. "I mean I am getting dragged into all those adventures and stuff all the time. And you guys are always having to be around to protect me. Wouldn't it be better if I was a part of the team and could take an active part in defending myself and others?" Melissa and Kurz looked at each other thoughtfully.

"I think that's a great idea, babe," Kurz said with a big smile.

"I don't know, Kaname," Melissa said. "I'll have to ask the brass, but I like the idea as well. The only down side I see is we won't get any more of these...passes...to come hang out with you here. I do know that we have a new batch of recruits starting training soon. So if you're serious, and the brass likes the idea, then you should be ready to leave."

"Thanks, Melissa," Kaname smiled.

_**OOOOOOO**_


	2. Training the Heart

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

_**Chapter 2: Training the Heart**_

"So what do you think, Lt. Commander.?" Tessa asked the older man.

"I think, if things work out, we have the makings of a fine new unit," Kalinin assessed. "It's very experimental, but it should prove interesting. With Miss Chidori's ability to use the Lambda Driver to mesh with the equipment and the Ranma boy's ability to project and use ki, they should prove to be a powerful force for us. If the boy is as good an AS pilot as he is a martial artist then he could very well eclipse Mr. Sagara as our top AS pilot."

"How are the designs for the ARX-8 model coming?" the young captain asked.

"They are almost complete," the light commander said. "We should have a prototype in a couple of months. Of course the Seraph, as the ARX-8 has been named, will be useless if our theories about the boy are wrong. The unit is heavily dependant on the pilot's ability to use the Lambda Driver. We know from the data we collected on the Behemoth and Miss Chidori's control of the Tuatha De Danaan that the whispered will be able to use the unit."

The captain looked at the dossiers in front of her, seeing a cute boy with his black hair braid and a confident smirk and a girl with teal hair and a bright smile. She smiled a bit, thinking that the two looked cute together. The part of her mind that was the seventeen year old girl began plotting.

"So if they meet our expectations, how do you think we should deploy them?" the captain asked her subordinate.

"I think we should deploy them as a two unit team," Kalinin suggested. "Should they prove our theories, even Arbalest will have trouble keeping up with them. The rest of the Urz team would likely just be in the way. However, I wouldn't rely on them too heavily. We should be careful how we deploy them so as not to tip our hand. It would be to our advantage to keep this new AS and Pilot combination under wraps as long as possible. Our M-9's and Arbalest will be sufficient for most situations we deal with." The captain nodded.

"I agree," she said. After a pause, she continued, "What about Mr. Ranma's...condition?"

"Yes, that is interesting, isn't it?" Kalinin remarked. "We don't really understand it. It's clearly magic, which challenges our world view a great deal. We don't know how, if at all, it will effect the Lambda Driver. From a personnel stand point, Ranma will require special handling to keep incidents from occurring. Ranma is an incomparable hand to hand fighter and I would hate to have half our compliment in sickbay because they decided to get a free show in the shower. Also, he's bound to take some ribbing about it, but everyone will be briefed that they aren't too get carried away, or they will face censure."

"Very well, Lt. Cmdr," Tessa said. "Oooo, I can't wait to see how they do. Do you think Miss Kaname will get along with him?"

Kalinin grinned inwardly, knowing that the kind young captain was hoping to ease her guilt at having won the battle for Sgt. Sagara's attentions by replacing him with the Ranma boy as Miss Chidori's object d'amore. He rather hoped the captain's plan for them worked out as well.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma stepped off the helicopter with eleven other apparent recruits. They were led to the small terminal building where they boarded a bus that would take them to their new home for the next few months. Ranma looked around at his fellow recruits, as he'd being too distracted by looking out the window of the helicopter to assess them at that time.

In addition to himself, there was six men and five women. All of them, save one, seemed to be significantly older than himself. Again, all of them but the young woman who appeared around his age, seemed to have a military bearing that spoke of combat experience in another unit somewhere. He turned his attention to the other odd person out. She was a very cute girl with waist length teal hair. She seemed entirely too young to be here. Though she looked to be quite athletic, she didn't appear to be a trained fighter. If she practiced the art, it was likely a low impact style like Tai Chi. As for the others, they were fairly non-descript in that military cookie-cutter sort of way. None of them showed much sign of being trained in the art beyond the rudimentary training the military provided.

He was rattled out of his thoughts by an AS moving past the bus as it turned in to pull up in front of a three story building. He had seen Arm Slaves before on occasion but he was never overly impressed. They had their place, but as a martial artist, he never had much use for them. Now, if what he'd been told was true, he would soon be piloting one. They wanted to find out what a high end martial artist could do with them in some sort of experimental program. They thought his abilities would make him into some sort of super AS pilot or something. Truth be told, he was a little curious as to what he could do with one.

The bus stopped at the front of the building where a man in a crisp military uniform stood. As everyone got out, the man addressed them saying to follow him to where they would be processed in and issued their uniforms and kit. Processing entailed filling out several forms and a full medical exam, which Ranma had to go through twice, once for each form. Ranma almost balked right there when they insisted on a full gynecological exam, but knowing what she had given up to get here, she suppressed her revulsion and submitted to the exam. She did draw the line when the doctors started to discuss studying her further. She let them know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't going to be their lab rat and if that was what they intended then she was walking right now. They backed off, knowing that the brass had other plans for her.

Back in male form, Ranma once again had second thoughts about being here when they issued uniforms. Ranma's issue included a compliment of sports bras and women's briefs among the t-shirts and men's briefs. No boxers at all. Taken aside, he was informed that he had to wear the sports bras at all times when in uniform as it would potentially cause problems should his rather well endowed female form appear braless in the midst of the male soldiers. His kit held yet more embarrassments for him, containing several items pertaining to female hygiene. So it an embarrassed and disgusted red faced Ranma made his way to his quarters.

Ranma found his assigned room and entered, dropping his stuff. It was larger than he expected, containing one bunk, a small desk and a wardrobe. There was a window on the wall opposite the entry door that provided a nice view of the mountainous tropical landscape. The only other feature in the room was another door beside the desk. Opening it, Ranma discovered it was a bathroom. Closing the door, Ranma began to get settled in, unpacking and putting away his uniforms and other issued items. As for his pack that contained everything else he owned in the world, he sat that in the bottom of the wardrobe without bothering to unpack it. Deciding to freshen up a bit before changing into his uniform and heading to the mess hall, he stripped off his red silk shirt followed by his pants. Clad in only his boxers, he grabbed his kit and headed into the bathroom to wash up.

Making sure the water was warm, Ranma used a rag to clean his face. While he was scrubbing vigorously he heard a door open followed by a startled 'EEP!'

_**OOOOOOO**_

Kaname entered her room and looked around. One bed, a wardrobe, desk, and a window. She put her stuff down on the bunk and looked out the window for a moment. Sighing, she turned and continued her investigation of her new home. Opening the other door in the room revealed a bathroom complete with a tub/shower, toilet, vanity sink and a delicious looking young man clad only in his boxers, muscles and other...things...shaking as the young man scrubbed his face vigorously. It finally occurred to Kaname that gorgeously sculpted young men were not a standard bathroom fixture and she blushed deeply, emitting a startled 'EEP!'

The young man, the other recruit that was her age, looked up at her. His eyes widened seeing her standing there and he blushed...all over. He looked down at himself and his state of dress and 'eep'ed'. Kaname realized she was staring and blushed even more before fleeing back into her room and slamming the door shut. She went out and double checked her room number and verified it in the assignment sheet. She was in the right room. Reentering her room she sat down on the bed to get a hold of herself. A couple of minutes later, she heard a knock on the bathroom door followed by a male voice calling out that he was dressed.

Kaname opened the door to reveal the now clothed and still cute guy.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," the guy said. "I didn't realize I was sharing a bathroom with anyone. Especially not a girl. I promise, I'll make sure the door is locked next time."

"Oh, it's okay," Kaname said smiling sweetly. "It was my fault for walking in on you. I'm a little surprised that I have to share a bathroom with a boy as well. My name's Kaname Chidori, by the way."

"I'm Ranma," the boy bowed politely.

"Just 'Ranma'?" Kaname asked.

"Yeah, just Ranma," the boy replied. "I had to give up my family name and now I'm ronin. It's a long story and one I'd like to forget."

"People still do that?" Kaname asked amazed. He nodded. "Well, at any rate, we'll have to work out a schedule, and you better not leave a mess in there or we're not going to get along, okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Ranma said, issuing a sloppy salute and a grin that made Kaname's heart clinch. "Well, I'll be going. I'm starving and I don't want to miss out at the mess hall. Sheesh, I never figured on being in the military," Ranma shook his head as he walked off.

Kaname giggled as his words were echoed in her own thoughts.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Mornings for Kaname and Ranma's training unit were free. At least they were free for the experienced AS pilots. The training staff had allowed the experienced pilots to demonstrate their basic AS skills and allowed those who passed to forgo their basic AS pilot training. The afternoons alternated between physical training, including firearms training, one day, and classroom training, where they were taught Mithril procedures and doctrine, the next.

Ranma shuddered as he thought back on the 'get to know your teammates' session they had had that first day. In his opinion, the folks in charge had totally botched it. They had everyone stand up and give some background on themselves and why they wanted to be a soldier of Mithril. They saved Ranma until last, and before he got up, they gave a bit of a preface, including telling them about the curse, followed, of course, by a demonstration. They warned everyone about giving Ranma a hard time, telling them that he was the best hand to hand fighter on the island if not in all of Mithril and if anything inappropriate should happen, then, after Ranma got through with the offending party, the brass would then take disciplinary measures.

This of course virtually invited these people who thought of themselves as warriors to challenge Ranma to fights. And of course, Ranma, being Ranma, he made them all look like inept amateurs. However, it didn't take more than a few smack downs before guys became more careful with their water. In the end, Ranma was alienated from all but a couple of the guys. The women ranged from those like Kaname, who thought it was weird, but otherwise didn't care, to those that though Ranma was a pervert. Almost all of them had been disappointed when they found out that such a cute guy changed into a girl that in most cases, made them look plain by comparison. Ranma took this all in stride, having expected this sort of treatment by people not used to the weirdness found in places like Nerima.

Entering the mess hall, he collected a tray heaped with food and began to look for a table to sit at. What caught his eye was Kaname sitting at a table by herself, looking sad and lonely as she picked at her food while looking out the window. He made his way over to her table and sat down.

"Hey," he said gently. "You look sad. Wanna talk about it?"

She had been thinking about the fact that she had been here a month already and neither Sousuke nor any of her friends had come to visit her yet. Kaname looked at the boy that shared her bathroom and suddenly she got angry at the pigtailed boy who had intruded on her thoughts and had presumptuously sat at her table.

"Look, Ranma," she said icily, "I'm not looking to be picked up and certainly not by you."

Ranma blinked at her for a moment before the hurt flooded his features.

"Forgive me, Chidori-san," he said tightly. "I didn't mean to presume. I just thought you looked like you could use a friend. It was foolish of me to think that someone would want to be friends with a freak like me." He stood and collected his tray. "I'm sorry."

Kaname instantly felt guilty as the boy turned away to leave. "Ranma...Ranma, please wait," she said feeling like a complete heel. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I...I could use a friend. Please sit." Ranma paused without turning, deliberating whether or not to accept this. "Please, Ranma?" The boy nodded and turned, sitting back down.

The pair ate in silence for a while, before Kaname began to speak.

"There was a boy," she said softly. "He was a Mithril agent assigned to protect me form certain groups that wanted to capture me and experiment on my...abilities. At first, I thought he was some military fanactic stalker because he followed me everywhere and everything he did had some military flavor to it. But then I found out who he really was. I started to fall for him, but he was so clueless. Nothing I did seemed to make him notice me as anything but a mission objective. It was so frustrating. Then there was another girl. She was his commanding officer. She fell for him too, but she was braver than me. Or maybe she understood him better than I did. She actively pursued him, while I waited for him to notice me. She won. I guess her active pursuit forced him to confront his feelings. I guess that's why I'm here, so I can understand him better, so I can know why I lost. How about you? Did you have someone back home?"

"Well, it's a little complicated, but I guess in a way I did," Ranma said.

"So what happened?" Kaname asked.

"To much history, I guess," Ranma sighed. "It was an arranged marriage. We met right after I got the curse and she didn't react well to being engaged to someone who turned into a girl. We were both pretty stubborn and the harder our fathers pushed us together the more hurtful we were to each other. It's funny though, because eventually we did grow to care for each other, in spite of everything. It was never easy though. While neither of us could admit our feelings for each other, she was very jealous and abusive if another girl talked to me. It didn't help that we both had several other suitors who kept trying to break us apart either. I didn't realize how sick of the crap that went on around us I had gotten until I got the offer from Mithril. That's why I'm ronin. I had to turn my back on my family to get out of the obligations my former father had saddled me with. I just got tired of being fought over like some prize. In the end, she asked me not to go, but by then I knew we couldn't be happy with each other. Sometimes just caring for someone isn't enough."

"Oh," Kaname said softly. "I guess that makes us both on the rebound, huh?"

"I guess so," Ranma smiled sadly. "I guess I've had enough girl troubles to last me a life time. So believe me when I tell you that there is no hidden agenda when I offered you my friendship."

"Okay, I can live with that," Kaname nodded. "You never want to have a girlfriend though? I mean with your...other form, you're not into guys are you?"

"No! No! No!" Ranma waved his hands in warding gestures. "I ain't like that." Kaname giggled at him. "It's just that, well, I guess I don't really know who I am yet. I don't think I'm ready for a relationship at this point in my life."

"I understand, Ranma, and actually, that's how I feel too," Kaname agreed. "I used to think I knew who I was and where I was going, until Sousuke entered my life. Now I'm trying to figure it out again."

"Well, if you need to talk about anything," Ranma said, "and I do mean anything, even girl stuff, cause you'd be surprised at how much of that I can relate to, I'll always be there to listen to a friend. I haven't had many friends in my life, because I moved from place to place learning martial arts and never hung around long enough to make friends. So I treasure the friends I make."

"Okay, Ranma, I'd be proud for you to think of me as a friend," Kaname smiled brightly, causing Ranma's heart to clinch. She offered him her hand.

'Beautiful,' he thought as he shook her hand and smiled back, not knowing that his smile provoked a similar reaction and thought on her part.

"Thanks, Ranma," Kaname said. "You really did help me feel better."

"Anytime, Kaname," Ranma smiled.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Over the next several weeks, Ranma and Kaname became inseparable. Indeed, it would have shocked them to know that they had been deliberately manipulated together, but they didn't know. Ranma turned out to be quite talented at piloting an AS. His movements were economical and precise and his gunnery skills were among the best. In fact, Kaname had to admit that the martial artist might even be Sousuke's equal. Kaname herself was a little better then average for the rest of their training unit. Like Ranma, who could almost make his AS do martial arts kata, Kaname's athletic ability translated over into her piloting.

The two helped each other as well, Ranma, teaching Kaname martial arts, that could be used to improve her piloting while Kaname would help Ranma with the technical things. By the end of the training, they had become great team, as the brass had intended.

"Hey, Kaname, where did you get assigned?" Ranma asked looking over his orders.

"I got assigned to the Mithril R&D facility to assist on a top secret project," Kaname said. "How about you?"

"Would you believe, the same?" Ranma grinned.

"Yatta!" Kaname yelled happily and high-fived Ranma.

"It's good to see you so happy, Kaname, congratulations," someone said. Kaname stiffened and looked over her shoulder. It was the whole gang. Tessa, Sousuke, Melissa, and Kurz.

"Hey guys," Kaname smiled. Strangely, it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, seeing Tessa and Sousuke together. She quickly introduced everyone to Ranma.

"How about we go celebrate your getting out of Basic Training!" Kurz suggested enthusiastically.

"Only if I can bring Ranma," Kaname replied.

"Sure," Melissa said. "It's going to be a barbecue and overnight on the beach, so you two may want to go change."

The pair ran up stairs and changed. When they returned, both wore shorts and a t-shirt while Ranma carried two small bags. The group piled into a pair of Hummers and headed out to the beach.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"So Kaaaanaameee," Melissa sang as she operated the large 4 wheel drive vehicle off the base at a break neck rate of speed, "what do you think of Ranma? Isn't he just a total hunk?" Kaname blushed cutely.

"Melissa!" she protested. "He's my friend, my best friend." Melissa looked at her with half lidded eyes, obviously calling Kaname on her evasion. Kaname grinned a little. "And yeah, he is a total hunk, when he's not a babe that is. His girl form is so adorably cute it's disgusting." Tessa giggled at that.

"And does that matter to you?" Melissa grinned.

"Not in the least," Kaname replied. "After all we are just friends." The teal haired girl stuck her tongue out at the older woman.

"Oh so then you won't mind if I make a pass at him then?" Melissa teased.

"As long as you don't mind getting shot down," Kaname retorted. She knew Melissa was teasing her, but she couldn't help the slight note of jealousy from creeping into her voice.

"Got him wrapped around that little finger of yours pretty tight, huh, Kiddo?" Melissa grinned.

"Not at all," Kaname said with a sniff. "With his experience with women, it's a wonder the poor guy didn't go join a monastery and take a vow of celibacy." The three women laughed.

"Still, he is a total hottie," Tessa commented.

"And you, Madam Captain, can just stay away from him," Kaname meant it to sound teasing but didn't quite pull it off. The possessive tone in her voice sent Tessa and Melissa into a bout of laugher.

"Yes Ma'am, Miss Kaname," Tessa said, saluting her. "He's all yours, Ma'am!" The captain and Melissa dissolved into giggles again while Kaname crossed her arms under her breasts and pouted cutely.

In the chasing vehicle, a similar conversation was taking place.

"So Ranma, it seems our little Kaname has taken a shine to you," Kurz teased the younger man.

"We're just friends," Ranma said firmly.

"Uh huh, riiiiight," Kurz laughed. "And I guess it completely escaped your notice that she's a total hottie?"

"Well, she is very pretty, but looks aren't everything," Ranma commented.

"Affirmative, Ranma, but are you trying to say Miss Chidori has some other flaw?" Sousuke demanded. "I have spent a lot of time with Miss Chidori and I failed to detect any."

"I didn't say that," Ranma snapped. "It's just that, well, she's my best friend, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, okay. But what if she wants to be MORE than your best friend?" Kurz grinned leeringly at the pigtailed martial artist.

"Why would she want that?" Ranma asked confused. "What girl would want me with my curse and all?"

"Intelligence says that before you left Nerima, you had several beautiful women mounting campaigns to win you," Sousuke observed. "The conclusion would seem to dictate that there are girls that are willing to overlook, or even revel in, such a complication to the mission objective."

"Huh?" Ranma said trying to decipher why the soldier boy just said. Kurz laughed.

"He said, there are obviously some women out there that won't mind your curse, Ranma," Kurz translated. "Obviously you had several beautiful women after you in Nerima that didn't seem to mind."

"Oh that," Ranma dismissed. "People are weird in Nerima anyway. But none of those women were actually after me. They were after a prize, some status symbol to be competed over to prove they were better then the others. Not one of them was really interested in me as a person."

"Jeez, man," Kurz rolled his eyes, "are you sure that curse of your doesn't effect your mind, cause that sure sounded like something a chick would say." Ranma glared at him.

"Okay, you try being chased by four violent chicks that are constantly trying to drug you, poison you, or beat the crap out of you, then you tell me if I sound like a chick," Ranma snapped. Kurz held up his hands in surrender before returning them to the wheel.

"Be that as it may," Sousuke said, "I have not seen Miss Chidori as happy as she was earlier in quite some time. I would recommend against a preemptive strike, but I would advise that you be vigilant for any subtle advances she may make. Miss Chidori is very subtle and cautious, perhaps even tentative, in her campaigns. I failed to recognize this before I was already committed elsewhere. The result was painful for all involved. Should she make such advances, you should respond with a similar level of commitment and allow her to escalate as she deems appropriate. Should you show honor and courage and not retreat in the face of an advance, I estimate you will secure a precious objective." Ranma blinked a few times while Kurz sweat dropped.

"Man, Sousuke, you are one weird guy," Ranma said shaking his head.

"Affirmative," Sousuke said with a straight face. "So Miss Chidori and many of my colleagues have told me."

_**OOOOOOO**_

The guys came back from their wood collecting expedition to find the girls had set up the volleyball net and unpacked the gear from the Hummers. Currently the women were relaxing in the folding lounges they had brought.

"Jeez, Ranma, remind me never to piss you off," Kurz was teasing Ranma, who was casually carrying a large log over his shoulder as if it were nothing more than a baseball bat. "But I still don't know how you expect us to use that thing. It'd take hours to chop through it with that hatchet we brought."

"Watch and dream, my friend, watch and dream," Ranma chuckled, dropping the log with a heavy thud into the sand. He proceeded to use his knife hand technique to chop and section the log in to firewood.

"Wow, that was impressive," Kaname said stepping up to Ranma. "Here you go," she said offering him a beer. Ranma looked at her...and looked at her...and looked.

"Kaname," his voice broke into a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Kaname, wow, you look..." gulp "amazing." He took the beer and popped it open, taking a big swig to moisten his mouth which had suddenly gone dry.

"You like it?" she asked cutely striking a pose and flashing a victory sign. "I just got it before I joined up."

"Uh huh," Ranma nodded rapidly while blushing. The aqua blue bikini she was wearing showcased, well, everything, leaving only the appropriate bits to the imagination. "It's very flattering on you."

"Why thank you, Ranma," Kaname blushed.

At this point Tessa and Melissa walked up, Tessa handing Sousuke a beer while standing there looking demure in her tie dye bikini. A brief look of irritation crossed her face, causing Kurz to elbow Sousuke.

"Oh, ah, Miss Tessa, you look great as well," Sousuke said.

"Oh Sousuke, you really think so?" the platinum silver haired girl gushed.

"Absolutely, without a doubt," Sousuke said in the same tone of voice one would use to assess enemy positions on the battle field.

"Oh thank you, Sousuke," the girl replied happily, eating it up.

"What? No beer for me, Babe?" Kurz asked Melissa.

"Dream on, Pal," Melissa laughed. "Get your own beer."

"See? And I was about make those two look like uneducated savages when I waxed poetic about how good your ass...ITEEE!" Kurz was interrupted by Melissa's fist in his face. "Uncute tomboy," he mumbled not quietly enough. Ranma took cover as a ten minute chase ensued which ended with Kurz pinned face down in the sand, with Melissa holding his arm in a hammer lock with her knee in the small of his back.

"What was that, Webber? I didn't hear you with your face pushed in the sand like that," Melissa was saying conversationally.

Kurz turned his head and spat out some sand. "I said you are the most beautiful Sergeant Major I've ever seen, ma'am," Kurz pleaded. "I would never refer to you as uncute."

"That's what I thought," Melissa said, smiling as she got up and brushed the sand off her hands.

"I'm just glad it's not me for once," Ranma mentioned and everyone laughed.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Sousuke sat in the sand beside Tessa's lounge as they watched a game of volleyball being waged...er...played. In spite of Ranma's efforts to limit himself to normal human feats, Kurz and Melissa were finding themselves totally over matched. Things became slightly more even when they agreed to handicap Ranma by limiting him to the back quarter of the court, but things for team Urz didn't look good.

"If you want to go help your teammates out, you don't have to sit here with me, Sousuke," Tessa said with a smile.

"I am quite satisfied with my current position, Miss Tessa," Sousuke replied.

"You're so sweet," Tessa said ruffling his hair causing the military minded boy to blush.

Ranma set Kaname up for the match point and the four agreed to a cessation of battle. Kaname trotted over and collapsed in her lounge while watching a shirtless and glistening Ranma head for the cooler. Tessa smiled as she noticed the hungry look in the teal haired girl's eyes as her gaze tracked the martial artist. Ranma returned with two beers, one of which he gave to Kaname, who rewarded him with a 500 watt smile.

"Wanna go for a swim, Ranma?" Kaname asked him.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Kaname," Ranma demurred.

"Ah, why not, Ranma?" Kaname pouted cutely.

"Um, well, you know, Kaname," Ranma evaded. "Cold water and all..."

At this point Tessa had gotten up and got her foot entangled around the leg of her chair. She 'accidentally' stumbled and her drink, by some 'chance', ended up on Ranma, who was now sputtering, wet and female. She looked up and saw the guys staring at her chest, Kurz with a small trickle of blood coming out of his nose. She 'eep'ed' and quickly covered her breasts with her arms as Tessa apologized profusely, berating herself for being so clumsy.

"Well, I suppose you'll have to go swimming with me now, huh, Ranma?" Kaname grinned.

"I guess so," Ranma sighed before going to the truck and climbing in. A minute later, she reappeared wearing a white one piece girl's bathing suit.

"Aw, come on, Ranma," Kaname said cheerfully. "It's not that bad, is it?" She smiled brightly at the redheaded girl.

"I guess not, Kaname," the girl smiled hesitantly.

"Good, now let's go," Kaname grabbed the smaller girl's hand and took off down the beach into the surf.

"Good one, Tessa," Melissa smirked as they watched the two girls frolic in the waves.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Melissa," the platinum silver haired girl said innocently. "Are you suggesting I did that on purpose?" She spoiled it, however, when she grinned wickedly.

_**OOOOOOO**_

After dinner, Kaname and Ranma sat next to each other in the sand by the fire. Ranma watched Kaname as she watched Sousuke and Tessa walking hand in hand down near the water.

"You want I should go pound on him just a little?" Ranma asked her gently. Kaname giggled and leaned against him with her head on his shoulder.

"No, that's alright, Ranma," Kaname smiled. "I'm happy for them. Tessa is a really sweet girl and she has a lot of responsibility. She deserves that comfort she gets from him."

"Kaname?" Ranma asked nervously.

"Hmm?" Kaname asked.

"What are we doing?" the pigtailed martial artist asked softly. Kaname leaned away and looked up at him.

"Do you not want to, Ranma?" Kaname asked, looking deeply into his ocean blue eyes. Ranma gulped.

"Yeah, I think I do," Ranma said slowly. "But do you want this? For us to be a couple?"

"I have for a while now," Kaname said, gazing into his searching eyes. "You're a really great guy, Ranma. A little rough around the edges, but I can live with that. Is there some reason why I shouldn't want to be with you?"

"The curse..." he started but Kaname interrupted him.

"Means nothing, Ranma," she told him sharply. Taking his hand in hers, she continued, "It doesn't change who you are. I'm attracted to you, the total package, not just the exterior. I admit, it was a bit weird at first, but now I think it's kinda cool. It's like having my best girlfriend and a fantastic guy all in one package. Since I've gotten to know you, I understand why all those girls in Nerima were fighting over you. I'm falling for you, Ranma. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah," Ranma said softly. "I think it's very okay with me." His breath caught when he notice how close their faces were to each other.

"Good," she whispered and leaned in the last few millimeters.

Their lips met, tentively at first, then more firmly as they began to taste of each other in earnest. Lips parted and tongues began to explore as hands began their own journey of discovery with gentle caresses and strokes. Unnoticed by the involved couple, Kurz and Melissa returned from their own walk in the woods and grinned at the sight before them. They wordlessly moved off down the beach to give the couple their privacy and share the good news with Tessa and Sousuke.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma woke up to the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. A pair of luminous sienna eyes under sleep mussed teal hair looked deeply into his own eyes from where her head lay pillowed on his chest. Kaname lay cuddled up beside him, wrapping him in her warmth.

"Good morning, beautiful," Ranma whispered softly. "Any regrets?"

"Not even a second thought," she replied. "You?"

"Are you kidding? This is the greatest thing to ever happen to me," Ranma said in awe. "How I feel about you, about us, it's too much, too intense, for me to even begin to describe it. It scares me shitless but I don't ever want this feeling to go away."

Kaname's smile was like the sun dawning into the darkness that had been his life. Suddenly, he knew. He knew the answer to why he had been given life. He was filled with an incredible sense of purpose. That purpose was to make the girl that lay beside him as happy as possible, protect her from all harm, and to dedicate his life to her. It left him feeling giddy, drunk on the power of that which was her. He felt as if his heart was going to burst.

"Me too," the beauty in his arms said, her eyes gleaming with intensity, identical images of his own feelings shining back at him. "You say the sweetest things sometimes."

"Oh Kami, that was beautiful," a voice sobbed, intruding in the moment, but not shattering it.

Looking up the pair saw their friends watching them from a few feet away. Tessa had her face buried in Melissa's cleavage crying at the beauty of what she'd just seen. Melissa's shimmered as well, proving that she too was moved as she held the emotional young captain. Even Sousuke had a small smile on his face. Kurz was rolling his eyes.

"Man, that was sappy," the blonde haired man smiled, then had to duck as beer cans, chunks of wood, or whatever was handy was launched at him.

"Now that you love birds are up," Melissa said, "we can get started on breakfast."

Ranma, feeling natures call, got up apologetically and kissed Kaname on the forehead before walking off into the trees. The other two girls wasted no time in pumping the teal haired girl for details.

"So Kanameee," Tessa said with wicked grin, "is he a good kisser?"

"He certainly looked it last night," Melissa chimed in as Kaname blushed crimson. "Well? Spill it, we need the info!"

"He's the best," Kaname gushed. She looked around to see if any of the guys were in earshot then beckoned the pair closer. "I think I, well, you know, just from him kissing me." Kaname blushed brightly. "I can't believe I just told you guys that."

"He deserves you, Miss Kaname," Tessa said sincerely. "You're the sweetest person I know and you should know this. That boy has had the most horrible life. We have quite an extensive and detailed intelligence file on him and almost nothing that's happened to him was good. He was abused in some way, shape, or form almost to the day he agreed to join us, yet one thing stayed the same though out the story of his life. He's always tried to help others when they were in trouble and he's always tried to act with honor and do the right thing. Treat him well, Miss Kaname, and he'll stop the world from rotating if you ask him to."

The group frolicked on the beach until after lunch and it was clear things had changed between Ranma and Kaname. They were always near each other and always touching, unable to get enough of each other. Ranma did have another small crisis when Kaname wanted to go swimming again. Still not quite believing the she could accept his curse, he went all somber again, depressed, believing that she wouldn't want to share their affection when he was in girl form. Kaname disabused him of this notion in a direct manner. She dumped a cup of water over his head and planted a kiss on her lips so passionate that the little redhead's knees collapsed. After eating lunch, they packed up their gear and headed back to the base.

_**OOOOOOO**_


	3. Research and Development

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

_**Chapter 3: Research and Development**_

The following morning, Ranma and Kaname packed up their stuff and Ranma drove them to the research facility where they would be billeted. As they approached the compound, they had to stop and show their ID's to the guard posted at the gate. The guard directed them to a large main building and said there would be someone out there to meet them. Pulling up to the building, Kaname recognized that someone as Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin. The pair exited the vehicle grabbing their stuff before coming to attention and saluting the light commander.

"Specialist Kaname Chidori, reporting as ordered, Sir," Kaname said crisply.

"Specialist Ranma, reporting as ordered, Sir," Ranma echoed. Kalinin returned their salutes and ordered them at ease.

"First things first," the older man said. "Come with me, I have something for you." He led them into the building and into an office. "This is a classified facility and as such there are no personnel allowed here below the rank of Lieutenant. Ten-SHUN." The pair came to ridge attention. "There for, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant with all the responsibilities, privileges, and pay grades appropriate to that rank. Congratulations, Lieutenants." The gray haired man handed them their Lieutenant's bars and shook their hands. "Now we can talk about what you will be doing here. Please have a seat."

For Ranma's benefit, Kalinin explained about the Lambda Driver, the Whispered, and Black Technology, after reminding them that this information was highly classified.

"Which brings us to your presence," the Lt Commander said. "Ranma, I can see you've already figured out what we suspect about the Lambda Driver. Tell me your thoughts."

"It's a ki amplifier of some sort, is my guess," Ranma responded.

"Yes, that's the theory we've come up with after studying you and some of the other high end martial artists you've associated with," Kalinin agreed.

"What exactly is ki?" Kaname asked. "I mean I know it's supposed to be the life energy generated by all living things, but what does it have to do with the Lambda Driver and what does that have to do with Ranma?"

"It's said that martial arts masters use their ki to augment their skills," Kalinin explained. "It is said that some, with decades of practice can even manifest it. Ranma and a handful of his associates have somehow managed to go beyond that. They can use their ki to increase their speed and strength to super human levels, shield their bodies from physical attacks, and even fire energy blasts." Seeing the girl's wide eyed stare, he turned to Ranma. "Would you care to demonstrate for her?"

"Sure," Ranma said, turning to Kaname. He began to draw up his ki, forming it into a brilliant blue ball above his cupped hands. Kaname's eyes were wide with wonder as she hesitantly brought up her hand.

"Can I touch it?" she asked. Ranma nodded, having to concentrate to keep the ball of ki stable this long. Kaname reached out and pressed a finger into the ball. She felt a resistance and then her finger felt warm, followed by a tingling sensation. "Whoa," she breathed in awe as she withdrew her finger. Ranma let the ki dissipate back inside himself.

"That is what a high end ki user can do," Kalinin explained. "You are aware of how you instructed Sousuke to use the Lambda Driver?" Kaname nodded. "The force the Lambda Driver used, as you had explained to Sousuke at the time, was Gauron's aggression and Sousuke's desire to protect, first his self, and then you. Ranma, why don't you explain to her how you use ki."

"Well, we use a strong emotion," Ranma explained. "I use confidence. My friend, Ryoga uses depression. The master of my former school uses perversity. The others I'm not sure of, but the ki is focused through the emotion, at least in cases where we manifest it. In cases of just boosting speed and strength, it just sort of happens naturally. The other thing is, it's like a muscle; the more you use, the more you can do, and the more you can store in your 'ki battery'."

"Okay, I understand," Kaname said.

"As you know, Sousuke can't manipulate his ki like Ranma does, and to my knowledge, neither could Gauron," Kalinin explained. "What we are here to find out is what would happen if we put someone who IS able to manipulate ki in an AS equipped with a Lambda Driver."

"Okay, that explains why I'm here but what about Kaname?" Ranma asked. "You said she's one of the Whispered, so is she here to make this stuff?"

"Actually, no," Kalinin negated. "She's here because of two incidents in which a Whispered person has assumed control of a machine made with Black Technology and achieved a near melding with the machine. One such incident happened with Miss Chidori herself. She was able to take control of Mithril's advanced attack submarine, the Tuatha De Danaan when its AI was hijacked, operating all of its systems until the crisis was over. She and Sousuke saved the whole ships compliment. We want to see if she can attain this same level of control over an AS."

"I see," said Ranma thoughtfully. "But aren't the Whispered too valuable to put them at risk on the battle field?"

"Don't even think about it, Ranma," Kaname said angrily. "I didn't like being left behind when it was Sousuke, and I damn sure won't tolerate it when it's you going into danger." Ranma sweatdropped while Kalinin chuckled.

"To answer your question, Ranma," the Light Commander replied, "everyone has to find their own place, even the Whispered. If she feels that the place she can make the most difference is in an AS, then that is her choice to make."

Ranma looked at Kaname, who looked back smugly. "I guess I can live with that," Ranma said with a sigh.

"Now then, now that you both know the background and the purpose of you being here, that brings us to the project you will be working on," Kalinin moved on. "We had two Arm Slaves built just for you two; the ARX-8 'Seraph'. Both rely heavily on the Lambda Driver and would be nearly useless to someone not able to use the technology to its fullest extent. You will be putting these machines through their trials. Should things go as expected, once the bugs are worked out, you will both be moved to the Special Response Team aboard the De Danaan where the two of you will form a sub unit that will be sent in to handle things that Sgt Maj Mao and her team can't deal with. Right now, Mao's team are our heavy hitters since it includes our only other AS equipped with a Lambda Driver, Sgt Sagara's ARX-7 Arbalest. Your unit designation, both here and eventually aboard the De Danaan, is Angel. Don't expect to see a lot of action at first. We want to keep this program ultra classified and you will only be deployed if the situation is dire. After the first few times, this will cease to be a concern and you will see a bit more action. Now, shall we go take a look at your mecha?"

"Sure," Kaname smiled brightly. Kalinin stood and led the brand new Lieutenants to the hanger bay.

_**OOOOOOO**_

The ARX-8 proved to be a departure from the most other Arm Slaves in production. Most notable was that it had reverse articulated, bird-like legs and its sloping nose which held what appeared to be a twin .50 caliber BMG mini-gun array. Kalinin informed them it was an Anti-Missile System (AMS). The machine stood slightly taller than the old M-6's but not as tall as the M-9 or the ARX-7. It could also crouch, effectively reducing its target profile by half and allowing it to spring up from cover without the time penalties doing so in a humanoid AS incurred.

Slung down the centerline, mounted at the top of the machine was the large 4-meter long barrel of an experimental 100mm gauss rifle. Ranma and Kaname learned that it fired iron jacketed depleted uranium penetrators as well as iron jacketed HE rounds contained in 6 eight round drums mounted on a rotating rack on the back of the AS. These drums clipped on to the breach of the gauss rifle and, upon firing, kicked the half meter long projectile into the breech of the gauss rifle with a small initiating charge. The magnetic field would then take over and would then accelerate the projectile to a speed of approximately 2000 meters per second, faster for the lighter HE rounds. When the drum was empty it would be ejected, the barrel would tilt back and a fresh drum would be fitted in an automated process.

To either side of the center torso, each of the large angular shoulders housed six ground-to-air missile and four ground-to-ground missile tubes. This gave the AS a hunched over look. Attached to these shoulders were the arms which terminated with hand manipulators. Mounted on top of the forearms on each arm was a pared set of 30mm cannons.

Other features included the latest in ECS systems, as well as an updated cockpit with a 360 degree, horizon to horizon view screen that displayed composite data from optical, infrared, and radar sensors, plus an experimental new sensor array could detect magnetic anomalies. The targeting system could track and identify multiple targets as well as assist in the aiming of the various weapons, allowing the pilot to engage multiple targets with different weapons systems simultaneously. The torso was gimbal mounted allowing negative 10 degrees to positive 50 degrees of incline and 240 degrees of traverse independent of the legs.

It was a very impressive machine, and as Kalinin intimated, it was far too complex to pilot without the use of the Lambda Drivers and a pilot with the ability to use them. This was the reason that current AS production models were all humanoid. The humanoid shape gave the pilots a better intuitive grasp on how the machine would move and allowed the control systems to follow natural biometric motions. The Seraph's Lambda Driver assisted control systems would theoretically allow the pilot to will the mecha to move in a certain direction in a certain manner. This system was mostly limited to the directional movement and the torso rotation and inclination. It was deemed that it would still be easer for the pilot to physically point to what he wanted to aim at or reach for.

The two lieutenants were impressed and eager to give the new machines a test drive, but alas the technogeeks wanted to run a battery of tests and simulations lasting weeks before they would actually get to take the Seraphs out and put then through their paces.

_**OOOOOOO**_

After hours of tests and simulations, it was determined that Kaname's use of the Lambda Driver control systems was akin to a natural function of her body. Ranma's, on the other hand, was more artificial and more taxing since he had to purposely infuse his ki into the control matrix. Kaname did this on an instinctual level so it was no more tiring for her than walking around. Consequently, Kaname's control over her AS was quite a bit finer and more precise than Ranma's. Interestingly, in simulations in Ranma's female form, the gap between them narrowed significantly.

This was most evident when they ran their first field test of the new mecha. It nearly proved a disaster for Ranma. Kaname had powered up her machine and brought it out of its crouch with no bobbles. She moved off carefully to await Ranma at the beginning of the course they were given to navigate around. Ranma, however, was in trouble as soon as he brought the AS out of its crouch. His AS staggered like Kurz on a weekend bender, nearly falling twice before stabilizing. His first attempt at taking a step met with similar results.

"This is no good. I can't stabilize it. I'm going to Mode F to see if that's any better," Ranma said, the frustration clear in his voice. 'Mode F' had become the euphemism for Ranma's female form. "Okay, in Mode F, recalibrating," Ranma's female voice came over the comm. "Alright, tying this again..."

Ranma's Seraph took a tentative step forward without a wobble, then took another step, this time more confidently and then moved to where Kaname waited.

"Better, Ranma?" Kaname asked.

"Yes, I'm a lot more stable now," Ranma said. "It feels just like in the simulator now. In Mode M it was like I was completely disoriented or something."

"Angel 2, do you feel confident enough to continue the trial?" Control queried.

"Affirmative, Control," Ranma responded. "Let's do this."

"Roger that, Angels 1 and 2, you are cleared to begin the trial," Control announced.

By the end of the trial, which was a fairly simple course that had them moving through different types of terrain to build real world data that could be used in the simulators, it was clear that Kaname out shown Ranma in piloting ability. Her movements were sure and graceful as if she were born piloting this AS. Ranma's movements were more mechanical, but had improved steadily as she became accustomed to interacting with the interface. To be fair, Ranma's piloting was significantly smoother than any M-9 pilot, including herself, could achieve.

Subsequent tests in the phase all netted the same results. Much to Ranma's extreme frustration he faced a continued inability to pilot the AS as a male. The techs went over the data with a fine tooth comb, trying to find the problem. Failing this, they sent Ranma to the medical lab to have a series of tests run on him in both forms.

Kaname and Ranma arrived at the project meeting they had been called to. Several of the department heads and the R&D brass were there. Everyone exchanged greetings and the meeting got underway.

"Good news, people," the project leader, Dr. Toshida announced. "We collected all the data we need and are ready to move on to the next phase of testing. We are several days ahead of schedule, in spite of the set backs we've encountered."

"Dr. Toshida, sir," Ranma spoke up. "Does this mean you've found the problem with the AS that prevents me from piloting it in Mode M?"

"That's the not so good news, Lieutenant," the Dr. said seriously. "We have found what we believe to be the problem, but it's not with the AS or the control systems. Dr. Yamaguchi, would you like to field this?"

"Certainly, Dr. Toshida," the elderly head of the medical department replied. "You see ladies and gentlemen, the problem isn't with the mecha or the systems, but in stead lies with our young Lieutenant here. Lieutenant, let me ask you, have you ever had a head injury?"

"Sure, lots a times when I was a kid, training in the art, and in fights before I came to Mithril," Ranma answered. "But I've never had any problems come from it."

"Well, you can't say that now, Lieutenant," the doctor smiled apologetically as he began to bring up X-rays, CAT scans, and MRI's on the large screen in the front of the room. "As you can see from these images of Ranma's skull and brain tissue, repeated head trauma has caused a thickening of Ranma's skull, here and here, where the skull contacts the brain. As he has indicated this wouldn't normally be a problem because only small portion of the brain is utilized. However, the Seraph's control systems require a pilot to use a large percentage of certain areas concerning spatial sense and balance. Unfortunately, these areas of contact are over potions of the brain believed to control these. We believe that this contact is inhibiting the full use of these facilities rendering the lieutenant unable to process all the data needed to stabilize the Seraph. Now, as to why Mode F operation is possible, well, the female brain is somewhat smaller than the male brain." The doctor pulled up more images. "These images are of Lieutenant Ranma in Mode F. Notice the areas of thickened areas of the skull are no longer contacting. Without that pressure the brain is able to function at full capacity. This is fortuitous to both us and Lieutenant Ranma, saving us from having to find another suitable high end ki user by allowing the lieutenant to continue participating in the program, albeit in Mode F."

That night, Kaname had to do a lot of damage control as Ranma cursed a blue streak about his idiot former father, uncute tomboy ex-fiancées, and his life in general before coming to Mithril. However, in the end, against Kaname's warm acceptance and tender caring support, Ranma's anger and bitterness didn't stand a chance. As long as Kaname was by his side, he decided, he could accept any burden and overcome any obstacle. By the time Kaname was done, he'd promised her that he would make the effort to stop seeing his female form as a curse, but instead, a blessing. It left him shaking his head in wonder at having made such a promise, but then it WAS Kaname asking, and he would do ANYTHING for her.

Kaname, for her part, wanted Ranma to be as happy as he wanted her to be and would go to the same lengths to make it so. She recognized early on that Ranma's girl form was a source of unhappiness for him. Not being something that was likely to go away, and, in fact, couldn't go away now that this was the only way for him to pilot the Seraph, Kaname decided that she would help him to change the way he thought about the transformation. After all, she had come to love all of the person that was Ranma, and that included the fact that he changed into a girl. It didn't matter to her in the least that what people might think, after all, it WAS Ranma and she would do ANYTHING for him, or her, as the case may be.

_**OOOOOOO**_

The next phase of testing was field trials of the ECS, targeting systems, and the conventional weapons systems. Team Angel as they had been dubbed took great delight shadowing other unsuspecting AS pilots in the training ground, sometimes coming within meters of them without them ever having known a thing. The ECS and targeting systems worked as specified although the MAD sensors proved to be a bit fickle.

The gunnery tests were somewhat routine. Not much new there, except the multiple target engagement. It proved to work flawlessly, allowing the Seraphs to engage three targets simultaneously by keeping the four arm-mounted 30mm cannons aimed at a designated target while allowing the pilot to properly position the Seraph to fire the missiles or the gauss rifle which had no traverse capability independent of the upper torso.

This phase of the project was also finished ahead of schedule and they quickly moved on to the most exciting phase. This is where the people in the project would truly see if all their hard work would pay off.

And pay off it did. This was where Ranma was finally able to eclipse her teammate. Kaname proved she could quickly and reliably use the defensive and offensive techniques of the Lambda Driver as displayed by Gauron and Sousuke, but because of her more complete bond with the control systems, she was able to do so with less effort and use them more effectively. Ranma, on the other hand, outshone her like the sun out shines the moon. Ranma found she could use all her ki techniques proportionately. Imagine a Moko Takabisha proportionate to an 8 meter tall Ranma. She could use the Umisenken which shocked the scientists to no end when the Seraph disappeared without a trace, only to reappear several meters away, without having used the ECS. She was able to fire off vacuum blades as well, though their effectiveness against hardened target was limited. Still softer targets such as unfortified buildings, light armored vehicles, and fences would not stand up to them. She was able to display the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, battering through heavy armor with her Seraph's fists, and her jumping ability was greater than the scientists had imagined was possible. One technique that didn't seem to be translatable was the Soul of Ice. It still worked for Ranma in the cockpit but had no effect outside the Seraph. While playing around with what the Lambda Driver could do, she even managed to shock herself when she manifested the Nekoken ki claws from the fingers of the Seraph. She had been trying to make a ki sword as a sort of fitting homage to the namesake of the Seraph. The Lambda Driver, instead, somehow recognizing the developed ki pathways used by the Nekoken state, reproduced them to fill Ranma's desire to form blades of ki. The claws proved every bit as devastating as her Nekoken claws. She could shred any AS or armor not equipped with a Lambda Driver in moments. All this was in addition to the kinetic shielding technique that the others used.

It was terrifying for everyone to think that if a less scrupulous organization had figured this out first, there would be little in the world that could have stopped them. Because of what Ranma could do with the Lambda Driver it spawned many philosophical questions. A debate was sparked arguing that there was a link between Black Technology, the Whispered, and Implementers, as people like Ranma who could use ki readily were dubbed. A related debate ran through the 'people in the know' as to the wisdom of opening this particular Pandora's Box, but it was widely acknowledged that now that this particular genie was out of the bottle, there was no putting it back in, lest some darker power uncork their own genie. It was decided that the Mithril organization would actively recruit people that might be Implementers to their cause, as well as researching as to whether or not an Implementer could be trained.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Amidst all the philosophical debate, the Seraph project went on. A year after it had begun field testing, the project faced one final test; real time combat. In this test the ammo fired would be paint but they were given the okay to use the Lambda Driver's abilities as long as no potentially lethal blows were administered. A destroyed or damaged AS was acceptable as long as the pilot wasn't hurt seriously.

Thus, Kaname and Ranma found themselves in a heavily wooded training ground awaiting the unit they were to engage. It didn't take long before they were both grinning like maniacs.

"So I understand there are a couple of shiny new lieutenants out here that wanna play, hmm?" Sgt. Maj. Melissa Moa said over the comm.

"Oh yeah," Kurz said cheerfully. "I can't wait to take down a couple of cute little Angels."

"Indeed," Sousuke chimed in, in his analytical tone, "though they may have an edge in technology, I believe that experience and numerical superiority will win the day. Do you ladies wish to surrender now?"

"Heh, dream on, Sousuke," Kaname laughed. "If all you brought was the three of you, then you are outclassed, even with Arbalest."

"No kidding," Ranma sneered playfully, "You guys should have brought at least five more M-9's to even hope to get one of us. It's not a question of who will win. You guys are going down. It's just a question of how long you last before you go down."

"Pretty confident, ain't cha, babe," Kurz returned. "Well, how about put your money were your mouth is? How about the loser buys the drinks for the next three months and if you lose then you both have to run around the base in bras and panties."

"You're on," Kaname said cheerfully, "but if you lose, You and Sousuke are gonna look awfully funny running around in a bra and panties." Ranma laughed at the mental image while Kurz gulped as he realized what he had just gotten himself and Sousuke into.

"Well, Sgt. Webber, you certainly know how to provide us with a great deal of motivation, don't you?" Sousuke chided.

"Oh come on guys," Melissa laughed. "I think you'll look cute. Besides, how good could those new Arm Slaves be? It's not like we're gonna loose. We're Team Urz! We're the best!"

Kaname switched to a private channel. "Ranma, Sousuke is mine," she said with a grin.

"You sure?" Ranma asked. "I mean it doesn't seem fair to Webber and Mao."

"Who said life was fair?" Kaname laughed. "Besides, this is personal."

"Okay, but be careful," Ranma cautioned. "You two should be pretty evenly matched given his experience. You're equipment and ability to operate it is better, but I'm sure he's learned a trick or two."

"No problem," Kaname said. "You be careful of Kurz, he's a crack shot with that 57 and I wouldn't be surprised if they use Melissa to try to engage you to set you up for him to get a shot at you."

"Right," Ranma grinned.

"Urz ready," Mao announced.

"Angels ready," Kaname announced.

"Begin," came the signal from Control.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma spotted Mao standing in the open in a clearing as if to say 'come and get me'. Noting she was still outside Mao's effective gunnery range, about a three kilometers, she broke from the trees and stood in the open to give Mao a good look. While Mao was getting a good look, Ranma was scanning the terrain around the clearing Mao had chosen to engage her in.

Sure enough there was a ridge line about a half a click away that had a good view looking down on the clearing. That was where Kurz would be. Grinning, she decided give Mao a little taste of the Seraph's capabilities.

Mao watched as the bird like new AS broke from the tree line about three kilometers away. It was pained a dark smoky grey over an azure blue background, the paint scheme brought to mind dark smoke billowing into a blue sky. 'Pretty,' she thought, 'and impressive too.'

She zoomed in the view and studied it. It had twin .50 caliber mini-guns slung under its sloping nose and she could just pick out a pair of 30mm cannons mounted atop each of its forearms, four total. It didn't seem to follow the philosophy the previous models did in that, in spite of its hand manipulators, all its weapons seemed to be hard mounted. Looking at the top she examined a nasty looking barrel mounted there, currently it was pointed at her.

'Trying to intimidate me ain't ya little one,' she thought, unconcerned since usually shells of that caliber were slow and lacked the range to get to her from that far away. Sure, artillery could shoot a large heavy projectile a great distance, but the case that contained enough cordite to propel a shell that far was far too large to be practical for AS use. A second later she realized her mistake when a contrail of compressed air streaked toward her.

"Shit!" Mao yelled as she threw her M-9 to the side just as a high velocity shell shrieked through the space her head had just been in, blasting a large chunk out of the tree behind her and covering it with pink paint. "What the hell was that?"

"What?" Kurz demanded. "What happened?"

"Watch out for whatever that gun mounted on the top of those things," Mao cautioned him. "She just fired it at me from three clicks away and would have scored a perfect headshot if I hadn't been looking down the barrel when she fired it and had real good reflexes. Looks like you may have some competition in the long range sniping department, Urz 6. Damn, where'd she go?"

_**OOOOOOO**_

Meanwhile, Sousuke was getting his first view of the new AS. The bird-like mecha was painted in the same dark grey smoke pattern as the one Urz 2 had just sighted, only this one looked like smoke over a hot pink background. He watched as it moved through the trees, seemingly unaware of his presence and made the same assessments as his CO did.

"Sorry, Miss Chidori," he said to himself, "experience wins every time."

He stepped out from behind the outcropping of rocks he was behind to bring his guns to bare...only to have to throw himself to the side as a hail of 30mm paint rounds streaked through the space he had just occupied.

"Uh, uh, uh, Sousuke," Kaname's voice chided over his comm., "it's not going to be that easy."

For several minutes, they swirled through the trees each taking shots at the other. Several times, he could have sworn he had her, but the AS of hers was deceptively fast and her reflexes seemed to boarder on precognition. A few times each of them had to use the Lambda Driver shield to get themselves out of a sticky situation. Sousuke was nothing if not patient. All he had to do was wait for her to make a mistake. He didn't have to wait long. She had just entered a ravine with no outlet. The sides were too high for her to climb out as well. It was a simple matter to herd her further in with his cannon fire. Just as he took up a covering position, Control announced that Urz 2 was taken out. That was unfortunate, but at least he knew where Ranma was now.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Mao had to dive to the side as Ranma burst from the trees to her right firing at her. She noted that the new AS was wickedly fast, and, as Ranma turned it on a dime jinking around her return fire, she noted it was terrifyingly maneuverable too. As Ranma bounced around the clearing like a hyper active superball, Melissa knew she couldn't win against the Ranma like this. She had to get Ranma to stay still long enough for Kurz to get a shot at her.

"Hey Liuetenant," Mao called over the comm as it took everything she could do to dodge the incoming fire, "How about we test that heap of yours in hand to hand?" She made a calculated risk and threw her gun down, extracting her combat knife.

"Aw, what's wrong, Miss Mao," Ranma asked teasingly, "you don't like dancing? Okay, hand to hand it is then, but you'll regret it. You had a better chance with the gun." Ranma settled and rather than deploy her own AS's blades, she manifested her ki claws.

Melissa was wary as she detected the slight blue shimmer extending about a meter past the tips of other AS's finger tips. They didn't look overly dangerous, but she had already been surprised once by the new mecha.

"Move her a little to the left and then charge her," Kurtz said over the private channel. "Dive on the ground just before you get there. I'll put a shot in behind you and she'll never see it coming.

"Roger," Mao grinned. She began to circle to her right causing Ranma to circle to Mao's left, then without warning she charged.

She got to within twenty meters and dove on the ground as a 57mm round cracked through the space she had been in.

Had it not been for Ranma's near instantaneous grasp of events on the battlefield and lightning fast reflexes, that tactic would have nailed her. Before she even knew why, she had leaped into the air about twenty meters as the shot cracked under her.

"No way!" Mao heard Kurz yell right before four lines of 30mm paint slugs rang across her M-9's armor.

"What just happened?" she demanded.

"She leaped twenty meters into the air over my shot, strafed you on the way down, and then disappeared into the trees before I could get another shot," Kurz said in awe.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"It's over, Lt. Chidori" Sousuke said over the comm. "You just made a fatal blunder by entering a ravine with no way out. Surrender."

"In your dreams, Sgt. Sagara, the specialist," Kaname replied. "Why don't you come in and get me, hmmm?"

"Very well, Lt. Chidori," Sousuke sighed.

He moved up the side of the ravine, taking the high ground, allowing him to use the side of the ravine as cover but able to look down into it from above denying his adversary the same. Keeping vigilant, he moved along side of the ravine knowing his quarry had to be in there. Then he was at the end and he still hadn't seen her. Surely she hadn't used ECS. That was against the rules of engagement and Control would have disqualified her.

"Gotcha," she said over his comm just as a large high velocity paint round slammed into his AS's chest with enough energy to knock him on his back to slide several meters before coming to a halt.

He looked around in dismay and saw her step up to the edge of a higher rock face past the end of the ravine.

"Lt. Chidori, I don't understand," Sousuke said confused. "How did you get up there?"

"Simple Sergeant," Kaname laughed. "I jumped. You'd be surprised how high these things can jump when piloted by someone who can mesh with them closely enough."

"I see," Sousuke said. "Well played, Lieutenant, well played indeed. You used my overconfidence and lack of intel on your AS to ambush me, knowing I would underestimate its abilities. And what was that you hit me with? I've never seen a paint round knock an AS over before."

"That would be a gauss rifle paint round moving at about 2500 meters per second with a thin iron shell," Kaname laughed. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a team mate to assist."

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Did you hear that, Kurz?" Ranma taunted after Control announced Sousuke's exit from the battle. "You all alone now. You wanna give up now, or do you want to clean the pretty pink paint off your AS before to take a jog around the base in a bra and panties?"

"I ain't done yet, little girl," Kurz snapped.

"Oh but I think you are, Mr. Webber," Ranma laughed. "You're too easy."

Just then Kurz heard a shrieking sound. Before it occurred to him what the sound was, there was an impact on the side of his M-9 where he lay prone with his rifle. This was followed a second later by another impact on the M-9's head.

"Son of a...how? Where?" Kurz cursed.

"On the ridge overlooking your position about two clicks to your right," Ranma said cheerfully, waving when Kurz looked in that direction. "As to how? Superior equipment, Superior intel, superior tactics, and superior looks."

"It helped that you guys way underestimated us," Kaname chimed in. "How's it feel to be played like a cheap fiddle, hmm?"

"And their modest too," Melissa groaned.

"Speaking of modest, Melissa," Kaname teased, "are you going to let the boys borrow your underwear for your little run?"

"I guess you know this means war," Melissa fired back.

"Aw, you guys aren't gonna be sore losers are you?" Ranma said in a pouting tone.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Once they had all gotten back to the staging area, Ranma and Kaname where instructed to follow Urz back to the De Danaan and park them. They were then to return to the R&D lab to collect their gear and their transfer orders to their new billet on the sub.

Once that was done and they reported in to Lt Cmdr Kalinin, two lieutenants decided it was time for Urz to pay up. They instructed the sergeants to get into 'proper uniform' and report to the ready room. Once there, they were greeted with the flash of the camera Kaname was holding as they came to attention.

"Oh wow, you all look so cute," Ranma still in girl form said. "But I gotta ask, what are you idiots doing?" Urz looked at each other confused.

"We're reporting for our bet repayment, Ma'am," Melissa said crisply.

"Aren't you a little underdressed?" Ranma rolled her eyes.

"We are adhering to the terms of the bet," Melissa stated. "It will not be said that Urz welshed on a bet."

"Morons," Ranma stage whispered to Kaname who giggled. Addressing the three NCO's, "As I recall the terms of the bet were that you all had to wear a bra and panties while you run around the base."

"Yes, Ma'am, those were the terms, Ma'am," Melissa stated irritately, wishing this would just be done with.

"Well, I don't recall the part that stated you had to be wearing ONLY a bra and panties," Ranma said with a grin. The three Non-coms' eyes got as big as dinner plates as they realized their blunder. "Go put some clothes on before to traumatize someone."

"Yes, Ma'am," the three said crisply and looking decidedly relieved. They turned to go and another flash lit up the room.

"I gotta hand it to'em," Ranma giggled. "They were ready to follow through. That took guts."

"No kidding," Kaname laughed. "So what do you want to do with our three day pass?"

"Well, once those three get back I figured we could start collecting on the other part of the bet," Ranma said thoughtfully. "Then what? The beach again?"

"I don't know," Kaname replied. "I did want to go somewhere where we could be alone, but I'd rather see if we could find somewhere with a roof over our head."

"Maybe the captain knows a place," Ranma suggested.

"It's worth a shot," Kaname agreed.

_**OOOOOOO**_


	4. A Proposal

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

**_Chapter 4: A Proposal_**

"Wow, Ranma, this is great," Kaname said as they finished checking out the small beachside bungalow that belonged to Tessa.

"Yeah, it is," Ranma said stepping up behind her and snaking his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him and sighed happily.

"Ranma? Are you ready to say it?" she asked, basking in his embrace.

"What? That I love you?" Ranma asked with a small gentle smile. "I've been ready to say it for some time now. I guess with as busy as we have been with the Seraph project, I was just waiting for the right time. Come on." Ranma led her out onto the porch and sat her on the porch swing. Kneeling before her, he looked deeply into her big beautiful sienna eyes and began putting to words the concepts that he had been dwelling on since that morning on the beach over a year ago. "Miss Kaname Chidori, I love you more than you'll ever possibly know, more than I have the words to describe. You're the sun that has finally risen in the darkness that was my life. You've brought me purpose to my life. You've shown me more compassion and more caring than I have ever known. With you, I'm a better man, a better person than I ever hoped I could be." As Ranma spoke, her heart began to pound and her cheeks flushed, sensing what was coming. His ocean blue eyes gazing so intently into hers shimmered with the intensity of his emotion. "In spite of all that, I don't have much. I'm a simple man who has led a simple life. It shames me, but I don't even have a name to give you. All I have to offer is my heart, my love, and my promise to always be there for you, to strive to give you the things you may want, and to support you in any way you may need. Kaname, would you consent to be this unworthy ronin's wife?" By this time, Kaname was shaking like a leaf in a wind storm, tears were running down her face as Ranma pulled the ring out of his pocket and held it up to her.

"Oh Ranma," she gasped. "Oh Ranma, yes." She grabbed the pigtailed young officer and hugged him to her tightly. "Oh Ranma, I love you so much. You've given me everything I need."

By this time they both had tears of joy rolling down their faces. She backed off a little and kissed him, trying to put every ounce of the passion and love she felt into it. He responded in kind. Eventually they broke the kiss and she sat back offering him her hand. He gently took it and slipped the ring on her finger and they both sat for a minute admiring it. It was a three stone ring with three diamonds set into a gold band.

"It's so beautiful, Ranma," Kaname said softly. He could still feel her hand tremble in his.

"And yet, it's hardly worthy to be graced by your hand," Ranma said. "It's a chunk of dirt next to the beauty of the woman who wears it."

"Ranma, don't you dare insult the symbol of our love like that," Kaname said firmly. "It's the most wonderful thing ever because of what it means, and because it came from you."

"Sorry," Ranma said meekly. "When you think of it like that, then, yeah, it's the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Come're, You," she said with a grin, pulling him up on the swing and climbing into his lap.

She proceeded to kiss him thoroughly and from there it turned into a steamy make out session that left them both aching with need.

"Ranma," she said huskily, her voice raw with desire, "I want you, right now, tonight. Several times."

"B...but, Kaname," Ranma said startled but extremely tempted, "shouldn't we wait until we're married?"

"I've given this a lot of thought, and even if you hadn't proposed, I was going to ask you anyway," she said. "Ranma, we are both soldiers on active duty. We both know what that can mean. Who knows when we will find the time to get married, and I really don't want my first time to be on a submarine, even one as homey as the De Danaan. I also don't want to miss the chance to have known the man I love more than anything ever in this way. No, to hell with waiting. We're engaged. We love each other. We can't afford to waste this chance, because we may not be given another."

"You're sure?" he asked. She smiled and nodded. "What about birth control? It wouldn't do for us to get pregnant now and I didn't...er...come prepared."

"I've been on Depoprovara since just after that time on the beach," Kaname told him.

"Wow, I guess you have thought about this for a long time," Ranma grinned.

"Uh huh," she agreed. "So whatcha you waitin' for soja boy? Do your duty."

Ranma chuckled and cradled her in his arms as he stood and carried her into the bedroom. Their cries of passion echoed late into the night before both fell asleep exhausted. After a short nap however, Ranma was awoken by a glass of cool water being dumped on him. A grinning Kaname then proceeded to prove, into the small hours of the morning, that her love and passion for Ranma had no limitations on his current gender by giving Ranma another reason to think of her transformation as a blessing instead of a curse.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma stood leaning against a palm tree staring out over the water. He was thinking about how deliriously happy he was and how perfect his life had become. If all the pain, all the torture, and all the suffering that had come before was necessary to get him to this point, it was all worth it. He would happily go through it all again, even the Nekoken. Yet he knew, in their line of work, it could all disappear in an instant. It was exactly as Kaname had said. What they had was now. They had to make it count because in an instant it could all be taken away. He smiled as he thought about how well they'd 'made it count' last night. The fleeting thought traveled though his mind that he could go join her in the shower and 'make it count' some more, but he beat it back thinking she might be a little sore still.

"Ranma! Prepare to DIE! Erk!" Ranma heard from behind him. He jumped around and into a fighting stance...and nearly fell on the ground laughing.

Behind him stood Ryoga, umbrella raised above his head about to attack. However, he was standing stock still. The reason for this was that his left arm was in a hammer lock and a slender arm reached around his chest, under his raised right arm, pressing a Beretta 96 under his chin. The hammer was back and the finger was on the trigger.

"Move and you die," Kaname hissed at him.

"That probably wasn't the best thing to shout around here, Ryoga," Ranma chuckled. "It's okay, Love, he's a friend. You can relax."

Kaname removed the pistol from the lost boy's throat and released his arm. She stuck weapon in the waist band of her shorts at the small of her back as she stepped up to Ranma and slipped an arm around his waist. He draped his arm around her shoulders.

"What sort of friend greets you with a cowardly sneak attack from behind your back, Sweetie?" Kaname asked perplexed. Ranma laughed. Ryoga hadn't moved a muscle from the pose he had froze in when he felt the gun appear under his chin.

"He was just trying to keep me on my toes, Love," Ranma explained. "You're looking at the guy that was partially responsible for my skills being what they are. I couldn't have done it without him. Hmmm, it looks like we may need to reboot his brain. Yo! Ryoga, snap out of it man." Ranma snapped his fingers and Ryoga blinked.

"R...Ranma? W...why did she put a gun to my head?" Ryoga stammered.

"Well, Ryoga," Ranma said with a broad grin, "that would be because this amazingly beautiful, incredible, gorgeous, wonderful, fantastic..." Kaname pinched his side while blushing. "Oh, sorry, I get carried away sometimes. As I was saying, this lovely lady here is my fiancée and she doesn't react nicely to people yelling death threats at her future husband. She tends to respond lethally."

Ryoga put his hand behind his head and scratched while laughing nervously, "I...um...sorry about that."

"I won't allow anyone to hurt Ranma," Kaname said fiercely. "I love him too much."

"And I love you too, Sweetie," Ranma said easily. Kaname smiled up and him, scrunching up her nose cutely. "By the way, Ryoga this is Kaname Chidori, my future wife. Kaname, this is my old friend Ryoga Hibiki."

"It's nice to meet you, Kaname," Ryoga said, still eyeing the girl nervously. "I guess someone finally managed to corral the wild horse." Kaname smirked and gave Ranma a squeeze.

"You could say that," she said enigmatically causing Ranma to blush.

"So how are things, Ryoga?" Ranma asked.

"Same as it ever was, Ranma," Ryoga sighed.

"That bad, huh?" Ranma asked sympathetically. "I thought things would get better for everyone after I left."

"So did I, Ranma, so did I," Ryoga said sadly. "But they got worse. Akane went into a deep depression after you left. It got to the point that she would hardly leave her room. She would just sit there and look out the window, as if waiting for you to come home. Eventually, I got her to go out with me a couple of times. Then I told her about my curse. I think it was then that she started to go off the deep end. She was furious and beat me bloody, which I deserved, but she would have probably killed me if her father and Kasumi hadn't pulled her off of me. Then I found out from Nabiki that her father did something really stupid. He agreed to an omai between her and Kuno." Ranma winced in revulsion. "Anyway, she beat her father severely enough to require a doctor's attention, and what she did to Kuno wasn't pretty. After beating him badly enough to put him in the hospital, she went and got a katana. Nabiki said she didn't want to think about what would have happened if she hadn't managed to knock Akane out with the stun gun she carries. I blamed you for a long time. I thought that if you had been there, none of that would have ever happened. But then Nabiki decked me and told me told me to pull my head out of my ass. She told me that if you hadn't left, it would have been you she came after with the katana, probably in a fit of jealous rage. That sort of woke me up, and I realized that Nabiki was right. Anyway, the Tendo's forced her to get help and she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. She's been in therapy for a while now. They have her on drugs that keep her mood swings at bay, but it's like the fire has gone out of her. The drugs suppress the passion that made her Akane." Ryoga stopped as he saw something he thought he would never see. Ranma had tears running down his face and he looked stricken. Kaname pulled him close and hugged him supportively.

"I'm sorry," Ranma said the hurt evident in his voice as he clung to Kaname. "I'm so very sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Ranma," Ryoga shook his head. "It was only a matter of time before the bi-polar disorder got out of control. "Kasumi, Nabiki, and even I think you did the right thing. Of course, Mr. Tendo holds you responsible for not marrying her and joining the schools, and Kuno still rants about the honorless ronin that corrupted the fair Akane, but at least he's terrified of her now and avoids her like the plague."

"At least she's getting help now," Ranma sighed deeply. "What about the others?"

"The Saotomes left about a month after you did, once it was clear you weren't coming back," Ryoga said. "Your mo...Mrs. Saotome was going to make the panda commit seppuku to restore the mess he made of the family honor. I never heard what happened, but my guess is the coward disappeared before she could make him perform the ritual. The Amazons are still looking for you, at least Shampoo is. Cologne went back to the village. She told Shampoo that she wasn't allowed to return without you. Where the hell are we anyway?"

"Somewhere you really shouldn't be," Ranma said seriously enough to make Ryoga nervous, "so don't ask."

"Oh," the lost boy said. "Well, anyway, the Amazons said you got on a helicopter and they lost track of you. They couldn't find out where you went no matter what they tried. Shampoo left about six months after you did and as far as I know she's wandering the country looking for any clue to your whereabouts. Mousse, being Mousse, I imagine is still following her like a puppy dog. Ukyo was a bright spot in the whole mess. What you did, going ronin and all, allowed her to return to her family with her honor intact. She was sad that you didn't choose her, but the last time I saw her, she was handling it and moving on. In fact, I dated her a few times, and we'd like to do it again. The last time was a week ago. Unfortunately, with my sense of direction, it's hard."

"Well, good for you," Ranma said with a smile. "I always thought you two would make a good couple."

"What about you?" Ryoga asked. "What have you been up to besides collecting more fiancées?"

"Hey!" Ranma laughed. "She's the only one. I asked and she said yes, rather emphatically. You remember what I said I was going to do when I left?"

"You said something about joining some anti-terrorist organization, if I recall," Ryoga said.

"Yeah, I'm a lieutenant now as well as an Arm Slave pilot," Ranma grinned. "Kaname here is my partner."

"An Arm Slave pilot, wow," Ryoga said. "You any good?"

"Well, you know how I don't like to brag," Ranma grinned and Ryoga sweatdropped.

"That's okay, Love, I'll do it for you," Kaname laughed. "We haven't seen any actual combat yet. We've mostly been training for over a year now, but we did take on the best three AS pilots in the organization in a three on two mock battle and we handed them their butts. We're the best."

"Gah, Ranma, she's as bad as you," Ryoga laughed. "I guess you really are perfect for each other."

"Yup," Ranma mentioned. "Tell you what, Ryoga, we were about to have some lunch. Why don't you join us for a meal, and then, don't take this the wrong way, but you need to get lost. You'd be in deep trouble if you were caught here."

"Thanks, Ranma," Ryoga smiled. "I understand. But after we eat, we're going to have a little sparring match. You better not have been getting soft on me, running around in a glorified suit of armor letting machines do the work for you, instead of relying on good ol' martial arts."

"Well, just so you keep in mind, we just started a three day pass before we go on active combat duty," Kaname said, narrowing her eyes. "I will be very upset if you damage him. I had more interesting plans for the next couple of days than nursing his injuries."

"You're probably right though, Ryoga," Ranma commented. "I probably have lost some of my edge. I keep up my training, but there's really no one here I can spar with that's in our league. Kaname, you're in for a treat. You get to see what two high level martial artists can do."

"Don't worry, Miss Kaname," Ryoga grinned. "I won't hurt him too much, except maybe his pride."

_**OOOOOOO**_

Later, Kaname held the hand of a bruised but not broken Ranma as they waved to Ryoga as he disappeared into the trees.

"You're right. That was amazing, Ranma," Kaname said happily. "I knew you were good, but you two are incredible. I have to say you've raised the bar on what I would call skilled." Ranma chuckled.

"That?" Ranma asked. "That was nothing. We were both holding back a lot. We didn't even use any special techniques. Although, either I am getting soft or he got stronger, cause his punches seemed to hurt more that they used to." Ranma winced as he rubbed his ribs. "That guy is built like a tank. Hitting him is like hitting AS armor."

"I'm sure he's feeling it too, Love," Kaname giggled. "Didn't you notice how he was favoring his right side where you landed that kick? Besides, after seeing that, I wouldn't find it hard to believe that you could both take on a rK-92 without an AS and come out on top."

"He would have won, though, had it went on," Ranma observed. "He knows it too. That's why he offered a draw."

"Is that okay with you?" Kaname asked.

"It's funny," Ranma smiled, "before I left Nerima, I wouldn't have been able to accept that. Now, it really doesn't bother me."

"It's called maturity, Honey," Kaname hugged him.

"Well, that, and I know something he doesn't," Ranma smirked.

"And that is?" Kaname prompted.

"I may have lost some of my edge in a physical sense, but thanks to the Seraph program, my ki is a LOT more powerful," Ranma said. "Remember, I said it was like a muscle. It gets stronger when you use it. Which reminds me, I wanna start training you more seriously than those workouts we do. Also, I would like to see if we can develop your instinctual ki use into the ability to consciously manipulate it."

"Not this weekend, Love," Kaname said softly. "I have other training in mind for us."

"Yeah, I was planning on 'making it count' as many times as you were up for before we have to go back," Ranma chuckled. "I love you, Kaname Chidori."

"And I love you, my wonderful Ranma," she said kissing him deeply. "Now go get changed, and put on your new bathing suit. We're going swimming."

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," Ranma replied coming to attention.

Later that night after several more rounds of 'making it count', a humorous thought entered Kaname's head.

"Ranma, do you think Sousuke and Tessa have done it yet? Like maybe right here in this bed?" she asked grinning in amusement.

"I don't know, but I can just imagine how that must have went," Ranma laughed.

"Oh Susuke, you must make love to me, or...or...I will fall and hurt myself," Kaname said in an imitation of Tessa's voice.

"Roger, Miss Captain," Ranma said taking on Sousuke's analytical tone and cadence. "I am very well equipped for this assignment and I will do my best. I will penetrate the breech with my weapon at ready and charge up the pass as many times as it takes to secure the mission objective to the best of my unimaginative military precision."

"Oh Sousuke, you say the sweetest things," Kaname said in her 'Tessa' voice, before both of them started laughing so hard tears were pouring down their faces. "How do you figure she ever got through to him? He was always so clueless."

"Well, according to Melissa, she sat him down and gave him a mission briefing, complete with primary and secondary mission objectives, possible routes to the targets, a list of the best ways to strike them, rules of engagement and a summery of the significance, benefits, and desired outcome of the mission," Ranma explained.

"That figures," Kaname giggled. "I wish I could have seen that report. I bet it was a riot."

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Hello, Miss Kaname," Tessa said as Kaname entered the cabin. "Did you enjoy your leave?"

"Hey, Lieutenant," Melissa said waving her beer over the back of the couch from her prone position.

"Oh yeah, it was great," Kaname grinned. "Thanks so much for letting us use the cabin."

"You're welcome," Tessa said cheerfully. "There's something different about you. Did you change your hair?" Melissa sat up to see. As soon as she laid eyes on Kaname, she began to grin like the cat that ate the canary.

"Got laid, didn't you?" Melissa teased. "With that glow you have, you might as well have worn a sign saying 'I got laid'." This made Kaname blush and put her hands over her face. "Oh my GOD!" Melissa was over the back of the couch and had captured Kaname's hand looking at the ring on her finger. "Oh, girl, that's so beautiful!"

"What? What is it? Let me see?" Tessa said stepping up, not having seen what Melissa had from across the room. Melissa held Kaname's hand out toward Tessa displaying the ring. Tessa began hoping up and down, squealing with hands clasped in front of her chin. "Oh my god, oh my god, that's so cool!"

"Oh yes," Melissa said. "This calls for a celebration, handing Kaname a beer. Now come over here and sit. We want all the details! Then you can tell use if the wild horse lives up to his name!"

Kaname began to talk and the other two women listened with rapt attention occasionally giving words of congratulation and encouragement. By the time the story was done, Tessa had to ask.

"You at least washed the sheets, right?" That sent the three of them into a fit of laughter.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"So how are my babies?" Ranma asked as he walked along the mezzanine to where Kurz and Sousuke stood looking at the 'babies' in question.

"They have been competently serviced and are ready for action," Sousuke said crisply.

"Uh oh," Kurz said. "I know that type of cocky swagger. Used it enough myself. So has Lt Chidori 'been competently serviced and ready for more action'?" Ranma's smirk intensified a few notches.

"An honorable man doesn't give such details about his fiancée," Ranma said haughtily.

"Aw, come on, man," Kurz wheedled. "You gotta give us the...wait a minute, did you say 'fiancée'?"

"I'm proud to say that Kaname has done me the incredible honor of consenting to be my wife," Ranma said happily.

"Aw, man, some guys have all the luck," Kurz said glumly but brightened an instant later. "Congratulations, man." The blonde man pounded him on the back and pumped his hand.

"Yes, well done, Lieutenant," Sousuke added. "Allow me to commend you on securing your mission objective." Neither of the two Sergeants understood why the young officer was rolling on the ground laughing his guts up. Sousuke could have sworn he heard Ranma gasping something that sounded like 'many, many times'.

"Good afternoon, Gentlemen," a voice said.

"Atten-SHUN" Sousuke called out, snapping to and saluting. He was followed shortly there after by the other two who now identified their CO.

"As you were," Lt. Cmdr Kalinin said. "So, Lieutenant, can a assume from your high spirits that Lt. Chidori gave you the answer that you were hoping for?"

"Yes, Sir, most emphatically so, Sir," Ranma grinned.

"And did she like the ring?" the older man asked.

"Loved it, Sir," Ranma affirmed. "Thank you for your assistance in procuring it. That meant a lot to me."

"Well, we are all family here aboard the De Danaan," Kalinin said with something almost like a smile. "I was my pleasure. I'm also glad to see I wasn't premature in this." The Lt. Commander handed Ranma a slip of paper, which Ranma opened and read.

"What's this?" Ranma asked. "You inviting me to a party, Sir?" The older officer laughed.

"No, Lieutenant, those are your new quarters," Kalinin said.

"But, Sir, these are your quarters," Ranma said perplexed.

"Not anymore, Lieutenant," Kalinin disagreed. "They are yours and Lt. Chidori's now."

"But Sir, we don't have the rank to rate this," Ranma protested.

"Not to worry, son," Kalinin dismissed Ranma's objections. "Lt. Chidori has saved the lives of everyone on this boat. She has a great deal of respect and admiration and because she loves you, so do you. You may not have the rank, but the two of you are regarded highly enough that nobody will begrudge you accepting this, since I am doing it of my own free will. In the time you have together, you need to make it count as much as possible. In our like of work, everyone knows this."

It was quite perplexing to the three men why Ranma suddenly turned beat red and began stammering his thanks. This, however, didn't keep the men from dragging him out to celebrate. Nor did it keep Kurz from hatching a plan, surreptitiously calling a few colleagues, and implementing the plan.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma and Kaname stood before the door to their new quarters and gawked. Someone had gone way over the top. Across the top of the door was written, in large gothic letters, the word 'Heaven'. Just below that in smaller letters, it read 'Home of the Angels'. This was followed by, apparently, their new unit insignia, a naked female form holding aloft a flaming sword long sword. Her feet were pointed down as if floating in the air, left knee slightly bent and left foot covering the right. Modesty was preserved by the angel's long flaming red hair which dropped down over her shoulders to cover her still evident breasts. Sprouting from behind her were six flaming red wings. The top two and largest were stretched up high to either side of the sword. The middle set were extended straight to the sides, while the lower pair wrapped around the angel's waist and crossed in front of her, thus preserving her lower modesty. Her face was slightly upturned and the expression on her face was serene and gave one a sense of peace. Whoever was responsible had a sense of humor too, since it looked more than a little like Ranma's female face but had Kaname's hair style. The artist was very talented.

"Beautiful," Kaname said in awe.

"Uh huh," Ranma agreed, but couldn't help but add, "a little pretentious, though, for a brand new untested unit, don't you think?"

"Oh, Ranma, I think it's very nice of the crew," Kaname chided. "They know we're a special elite unit, and they are giving us their vote of confidence. Can't you just accept it for the gesture of acceptance it is?"

"Sorry, Kaname," Ranma said. "I guess I just like to earn my respect and on this ship, I just kinda feel like I'm riding on your coattails."

"Well, look at it this way," Kaname suggested. "Now you have a good reason to go out and make sure you earn the respect of the crew."

"I guess your right, Kaname," Ranma sighed, then smiled. "I really do appreciate it. I guess I just don't feel like I've earned it yet."

Suddenly, Kaname spun him around and pinned him to the bulkhead. "Alright, where's my Ranma and what have you done with him?" she demanded forcefully.

"Kaname?" Ranma squeaked.

"My Ranma doesn't turn down a chance to have his ego stroked," Kaname said. "Therefore you can't be him." Ranma laughed nervously, scratching the base of his pigtail.

"I guess I grew up, Kaname," Ranma chuckled. "You're right though, we are the best. We'll just have to go out and prove it." Kaname smiled sweetly and released him.

"Now, shall we go make ourselves at home?" Kaname said, opening the door. "After we get settled in, maybe we can 'make it count' again." She gave him a smoldering smile.

"You're insatiable," Ranma laughed.

"Yeah, and?" Kaname asked as if you say 'what's your point'.

"And I love you for it, among the many other things," Ranma chuckled.

_**OOOOOOO**_

_**Omake!**_

Ranma and Kaname had set out to give their quarters a major cleaning. They had already completed the common room and had moved into the bedroom. Ranma was wiping down the walls while Kaname was cleaning the floor. Out of the corner of his eye he was watching her as she lifted the mattress so she could get the are under the bed. Suddenly she turned milk white and let out a shriek of the purest terror. She dropped the mattress and backed up against the wall, shaking. Ranma was instantly by her side asking what was wrong. She just stood the rubbing her shaking hands over her head mumbling "the Horror...the Horror" as eye eyes started off at some point about a thousand yards distant.

Ranma didn't know what could make his fiancée react like that but he was damn sure going to find out. Nervously he approached the bed. Reaching out with a cautious hand he lifted make the mattress...and shrieked like a terrified little girl. Soon he joined Kaname backed up against the wall, rubbing his head and he mumbled "the Horror...the Horror" in time with Kaname as they stared a that particular point some thousand yards distant.

Some moments later they looked at each other in wordless communication. In the blink of an eye they were both gone, leaving only a dust cloud. Before the dust had a chance to settle two figures reappeared shrouded in level 4 hazmat contamination suits and containment gear. A look at the face plates revealed Ranma and Kaname as they paused near the bed.

"Are you ready?" Kaname asked, her voice sounding muffled in her supplied air hood.

Ranma closed his eyes as if to gather his nerve and then nodded. Kaname pulled back the mattress and Ranma as quickly as possible gathered what was there into the containment vessel. The couple then moved quickly through the halls of the De Danan with Kaname in the lead to clear people out of the way. Soon the arrived at their destination, the torpedo room.

Kaname opened the torpedo tube and Ranma placed the containment vessel, a sealed plastic bag hanging at the end of a 10.3 foot pole, in the tube. Kaname slammed the hatch shut and Ranma urgently stabbed the launch button. There was a sound of air being expelled from inside the tube.

Outside the sub, a yellow bag with hazmat markings was ejected out a torpedo tube. Looking closer, the bag has come open and objects have drifted out into the surrounding water. The objects have writing on them and if one looks closely one can see they say things like 'Magical Girl Pretty Sammy' and 'Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon' among others.

Back inside the sub, Ranma and Kaname have doffed the hoods of their hazmat suits and have breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was disturbing," Kaname shuddered.

"Yeah, no kidding," Ranma agreed. "Who knew Lt Commander Kalinin was into Shoujo manga."

_**OOOOOOO**_


	5. Did Somebody Here Pray For Deliverance?

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

**_Chapter 5: Did Someone Here Pray For Deliverance? _**

**_Authors Note:_**

For any questions concerning Ranma's power level, see the note at the end of this chapter, where I explain my rationale.

As had been expected, it had been quite some time before Team Angel got to see any serious action. They had been out on the rare occasion in low threat covert surveillance missions, and they had logged hundreds of hours in the simulators. The remaining time had been filled with taking collage level courses and Ranma's training of both himself and Kaname. However, the routine was broken about four months into their cruise when rumors that the opposition had begun to field new AS designs began to emerge.

Team Angel sat in the briefing room with the rest of the SRT. They were there to be briefed on what intelligence had come up with on these new models. What Ranma wasn't prepared for was the intelligence officer that was to give the briefing. He recognized her as soon as she entered. It had been a long time and she looked a bit older. Her hair was longer and styled differently, but there was no doubt who Ranma was looking at. He wanted to use the Umisenken and escape, but it was too late. Her eyes met his and she gave a little smirk. Her look conveyed the message that they would be talking after the meeting. Ranma gulped; old conditioning coming to the fore.

"Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen," Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin addressed the SRT. "You've all heard the rumors of the new AS designs that have begun appearing in the various terrorist organizations we watch. Today, Intelligence has come to brief us on what is know about them. "I'll turn the floor over to Major Nabiki Tendo from Intelligence. Major?"

"Thank you Lt. Commander," Nabiki said, stepping up to the podium. "There appear to be two new models the opposition seems to be fielding. The more common one, designated UK-1, until more is learned about them, is equivalent to the M-9, though it appears to have a better targeting system and a small edge on speed. In a one on one fight, the M-9 would lose about 60 percent of the time. We have seen them deployed in various places around the world, in anywhere from battalion strength to single units supported by rK-92's." The screen behind Nabiki began to flash through images of the new unit in action. Most of the photos showed them scything through M-6 models fielded by various forces. "There is a plus side, however," Nabiki continued. "While they are a powerful new threat, they appear to have reliability issues that mitigate their danger to some degree.

"The other model is not so common," Nabiki informed them. "We haven't been able to get any images of them but from the description give by survivors, they appear to be a production run of the Codarl AS used by Gauron. We estimate that there are no more than four of these mecha currently in the field, but it's hard to be sure since they haven't deployed more than one in a given area. Our estimates are based on the various areas there has been evidence of them with respect to time and distance between. They seem to have similar markings which differ from the various forced they have been operating in support of, so we are guessing that they are a 'company' unit, hired out to bolster the terrorist unit's own forces. As a reminder, the only units we have that can stand up to the Codarl are the ARX-7 Arbalest and the AXR-8 Seraph. M-9 pilots, should you encounter one of these, you are to scrub the mission and retreat as fast as possible, unless working in support of the ARX-7 or 8 models or have a 5 to 1 or more advantage in numbers.

"Currently we are working under the assumption that whoever was backing Gauron is responsible for these new threats. We are also working with various allied Intelligence Agencies around the clock to locate their production facilities, but progress has been slow. Be careful out there, ladies and gentlemen. Things just got a little more interesting."

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Hello, Ranma," Nabiki smirked from where she leaned against the bulkhead waiting for Ranma to exit the room. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Major," Ranma acknowledged with a salute. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has, Lieutenant," Nabiki chuckled. "Perhaps we could go somewhere to talk?"

"We could go to my quarters, as long as you don't mind Lt. Chidori being there," Ranma suggested making Nabiki raise an eyebrow. "Lt. Chidori is my partner and soon to be wife. I have no secrets from her."

"Very well, lead the way," Nabiki said. Soon, they were seated in the common room of Ranma's quarters as Kaname served them tea.

"Major, I would like you to meet my future wife, Kaname Chidori," Ranma introduced as Kaname sat beside him. "Kaname, this is Nabiki Tendo, sister of one of my ex's."

"Pleased to meet you, Major," Kaname smiled.

"The pleasure is mine," Nabiki grinned. "Imagine, I finally get to meet the girl who managed to corral the Wild Horse. You must be an exceptional woman to get him to admit it so readily."

"The most exceptional there ever will be," Ranma said with a tone of absolute certainty, his love for her clear in his eyes as he looked at her. Kaname blushed cutely.

"Wow," Nabiki said, a little taken off guard. "It seems that when you left the Saotomes behind, you left the Saotome foot-in-mouth syndrome with them too."

"I have still have my moments. So, Major, how long have you been working for Mithril?" Ranma asked.

"Oh enough with that 'major' stuff, and about five months or so before you joined," Nabiki grinned. "Who do you think provided them with intelligence and suggested they recruit you? I would have dropped in to say 'hi' a while ago, but it's been about impossible to locate you. Every thing beyond that you are on the payroll is classified 'need to know'. Seeing your insignia, I understand why now. Isn't that door a little much, even for your ego, Ranma?"

"I thought so, Nabiki, but it's not my doing," Ranma explained. "It's mostly for Kaname. She is something of the crew's hero around here. They only respect me because Kaname chose me for her mate. I haven't had a chance to earn it yet."

"Well that's likely to change soon," Nabiki commented. "So how have you been?"

"What can I say? I've never been happier," Ranma said simply. "It seems I owe you a lot more than I can ever repay for getting me recruited. If you hadn't, I would have never met Kaname, or gotten out of that nightmare in Nerima. Speaking of, how are things? Ryoga said they got pretty ugly after I left."

"Yeah, they did," Nabiki said sadly. "But they are getting better. Kasumi is in medical school now. She ran into Dr. Tofu who was giving a lecture and they've begun dating. He seems to have gotten passed most of his little problem." Ranma laughed at that.

"Good for them," Ranma said happily, then turned to Kaname. "If there was ever a couple that was more meant to be than us, it would be them. Dr. Tofu loves her so much his mind used to short circuit just hearing her name mentioned. It got so bad he had to leave Nerima because he couldn't do his job properly."

"Anyway, Daddy is the same as ever," Nabiki continued. "Akane, well, Akane is still in therapy and still taking her meds for the bipolar disorder. It's both good and bad. She isn't dangerous as long as she takes them, but she has no passion, no drive."

"I can't tell you how deeply sorry I am for my part in that," Ranma said, the regret clear in his tone.

"It's not your fault, Ranma," Nabiki said. "If you hadn't been there, things likely would have exploded sooner. You took a lot of the pressure off by enduring the brunt of her rages. No one else could have survived what you did, and thanks to you, we are in a better position than we would have been had you not forestalled the break down. We would have never been able to afford the therapy or the meds before I got on with Mithril. So you really don't owe me at all, Ranma. We owe you. I admit, I did use you to keep a lid on things, but as soon as I was in a position to handle it, I provided you with a way out."

"It's okay, I understand, Nabiki," Ranma smiled at her. "I'm glad I could help."

"Good," Nabiki smiled back. "So when is the wedding?"

"We were planning on having a small ceremony in Chofu, where Kaname's friends live, after this cruise is up and the De Danaan returns for refit," Ranma said.

"I better be getting an invitation," Nabiki grinned. "And Kasumi too. She still thinks of you as a little brother. After all, someone has to be there for the groom."

"Gee, I dunno, Nabiki," Ranma said teasingly. "I seem to remember the last wedding of mine you attended didn't go too well."

"And you're still upset about that?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, not anymore," Ranma said.

"Look Ranma, I know you cared for my sister, but I also did what I did to help you," Nabiki said firmly. "Once I gave you a way out, if you still wanted to marry her, I wouldn't have stopped you, but you're too nice a guy to have been stuck in that situation."

"I know that know, Nabiki and thanks," Ranma smiled. "Yes, you and Kasumi will be getting invitations. I'd like to see Dr. Tofu as well, but please keep it 'need to know'. I heard there is still a certain purple haired menace out there waiting for me to show my face. Speaking of the good doctor, can I get his address from you? I think his knowledge would be invaluable to certain projects. I figured I'd make a suggestion to the appropriate parties and see what happens."

"You mean the 'Seraph' project?" Nabiki asked.

"I really couldn't say one way or the other," Ranma said.

"You've gotten much better at that," Nabiki laughed. "So what can you tell me about the ARX-8?"

"Not a lot, really, except it works," Ranma said. "If you clear it with the captain, I can let you look at them."

"Okay, I will later, but for now, I want to know everything about you and Kaname," Nabiki grinned and looked at Kaname. "I want to know all the juicy details, like; how you met, how you got him over his fear of showing affection, how you got him to propose, did you have to beat him on the head 'til he got the message, how he did it, what you think of our 'Miss Ranma'. Tell me everything."

The couple began talking animatedly about how they came to be. Nabiki was amazed. She didn't think Ranma would have it in him after Nerima and the fear of commitment the experience had drilled into him.

"Wow, Ranma, I'm impressed," Nabiki said. "You have matured a lot. I figured after Nerima, you would run screaming from any girl that made a pass at you."

"I was like that for a while, Nabiki," Ranma grinned. "But Kaname and I were both on the rebound and not looking for anything. We were kindred spirits, I guess, is what brought us together. We became friends with no expectations for anything else and it grew into something more. Still, I have to say I still might have shied away from us if I hadn't been given some pretty good advice, at least, it was after I interpreted it."

"Oh, and what was that?" Nabiki asked.

"Yes, I've never heard this story," Kaname asked curious. Ranma laughed.

"You'll find it heard to believe, Kaname, but it came from Sousuke," he told them. "He said, and I quote, 'I would recommend against a preemptive strike, but I would advise that you be vigilant for any subtle advances she may make. Miss Chidori is very subtle and cautious, perhaps even tentative, in her campaigns. Should she make such advances, you should respond with a similar level of commitment and allow her to escalate as she deems appropriate. Should you show honor and courage and not retreat in the face of an advance, I estimate you will secure a precious objective.' And I have to admit, he was right on the mark." Nabiki blinked several times

Kaname was shocked to hear such things from Sousuke. "You know," she said in wonder, "in a goofy Sousuke sort of way that actually made sense."

"Yeah, but I didn't realize what he was trying to say until later that night when you leaned against me," Ranma said. "I guess I just didn't believe them when they told me you were interested. If not for what Sousuke said, I would have missed it, or misinterpreted it."

"I'm very happy for you, Ranma," Nabiki said smiling. "You two do seem really good together. Now how about we go see the captain and see about getting me permission to see the Seraphs."

_**OOOOOOO**_

It was a month after Nabiki left and about another month until the De Danaan was to return for refit when Intelligence managed to have a break through. They had found at least one of the facilities producing the UK-1 model AS in Nepal. Recon of the area via satellite had been made and strike was planned. Resistance was expected to be a heavy mix of the UK-1's and rK-92's. Intelligence said to expect one Codarl. Surveillance of the area determined they would face about fifteen AS's in addition to the Codarl. They were able to identify six UK-1's operating in the area and eight rK-92's. They determined that the strike package should consist of nine of the M-9's plus Arbalest. Air support would be tricky, having to fly in from off the cost of Bangladesh. India had denied them the use of their air space save for the small portion they would have to cross from Bangladesh to enter Nepal. Neither Nepal nor Bangladesh would allow them use any of their bases. There was an airstrip a few clicks away from the target that would be used for extraction. The Angels would of course be held in reserve.

As Urz made their way to the DZ, Ranma and Kaname sat in the reserve transport orbiting about a half an hour away, listening to the progress. They met little resistance as they touched down and made their way toward the target, taking out about four of the rK-92's. They figured the rest would be waiting for them at the perimeter of the facility. As Urz got closer to the facility they began to take heavy fire. It was then that the Codarl ripped into their flanks, taking out Urz 10 and heavily damaging Urz-3 before Urz-7 engaged it. After a vicious battle, Sousuke managed to damage the Codarl enough that it retreated to it's own lines, but there was another problem. Instead of the 11 remaining AS's that they should have been facing, they found themselves confronting more than 20, and over half of those were the UK-1 models. Urz was being pushed back into a box canyon. As they fell back, the damaged Urz-3 fell to enemy fire. Seconds later, an undamaged Codarl appeared in their midst taking out Urz 8. Sousuke engaged the unit and another vicious battle was fought resulting in the destruction of the Codarl. Unfortunately, in the process, Arbalest was damaged and was only about 60 percent combat effective.

xxxxx

It was then decided to send in the Angels to assist Urz. They were give strict instructions that they were to go in as fire support only. They were not to directly engage the enemy forces or use their less conventional attacks. They were to take out as many of the enemy AS's as they could with long range gauss rifle fire and missiles, but were to fade back if the enemy began to press toward them.

"Angel 2 on the ground," Ranma said as she hit the release on her chute, dropping the last few meters.

"Angel 1 on the ground," Kaname said a few seconds later. "Engaging ECS and moving to fire support position Alpha."

They topped a ridge with a perfect view straight down the canyon a little over a click away from where Urz was pinned down. No other units had been lost as yet, but they were still taking withering fire, unable to move from cover.

"I count 19 units," Ranma said as she checked her targeting computer. "14 of those are the UK-1's."

"Let's start with those, Angel 2," Kaname said. "I'll take the available targets designated U-1 through 7, you take the U-8 through 14. Fire as you bear."

"Roger that, Angel 1," Ranma replied and began to line up her shot.

xxxxx

One of those damn UK-1's had eased around to get a shot on Melissa's position with an RPG. It was just about to fire when suddenly it was slammed to the ground with a large smoking hole completely through it just below the cockpit. A little further down another UK-1 suffered a similar fate. Her comm unit crackled to life.

"Angels on the ground providing fire support, Urz," came Ranma's voice. A ragged cheer came up from the other Urz units.

"Urz 2," Kaname's voice came over the comm. "We have strict orders to fade back when they come after us, so you need to fall back as soon as we take the pressure off. There's a dog leg in the canyon you're in a few hundred meters from your position. You should be able to hold them off indefinitely from there."

"Roger that Angel 1," Melissa said. "You heard the lady, as soon as they realize what's happening and start scrambling for cover, we fall back. Got it?" There was a chorus of 'roger's. "Angel 1, you got any idea how many of them there are?"

xxxxx

"We currently see 16, make that 15, 10 of those are the new models," Angel 1 replied, comm crackling a bit as she fired her gauss rifle. "Okay they are starting to notice it's not you that's taking them out. They should see the contrail from the next shot. Good luck and we'll be with you as long as Command allows."

Sure enough the opposition saw the next round coming. The targeted mecha tried to dodge but depleted uranium rounds were coming in too fast for them to get out of the way completely. Ranma's shot tore the arm off of the mecha she targeted and unfortunate Savage behind it lost its weapon when the projectile caromed into it and destroyed it. Kaname's shot ripped through the leg of her target. As the UK-1 took another step, the leg slowly buckled and it fell to the ground heavily.

"Okay, the jig is up. They know we're here now," Ranma said. "I'm going to missiles, Angel 1."

"Roger that," Kaname's voice said.

"AI, open the anti-armor missile bays and get me a missile lock on targets designated U-7 through 14," Ranma commanded her mecha. Small red boxes lit up on her screens indicating missile locks on the said units.

"Anti-armor missiles 1-5 locked on, ma'am," the AI said.

"Fire missiles a one second intervals then close the bay doors," Ranma ordered as the first missile launch rocked her slightly. "Urz 2, get ready to move your people. I just launched a spread of missiles. The explosions and smoke should provide you with some cover."

"Roger, Angel 2," Mao acknowledged as explosions started going off in the enemy positions. "Okay you heard the lady, get your asses moving Urz!"

"Angel 2," Kaname said. "I have incoming enemy air assets, appear to be transport planes, three, no, four of them. We also have another group vectoring on our position that look like Hinds."

"Damn," Ranma growled. "Urz 2 what's your position?"

"We are entering the dog leg now, Angel 2," Melissa said.

"Good, you hold that position and don't let one of those bastards get by there," Ranma growled. "We're about to be a little busy." Ranma looked at the enemy positions to see how many were left. "Shit," she said. The missile attack had only destroyed one UK-1 but the blasts had taken out three of the rK-92's. The remaining Savages and the targeted UK-1's were only moderately damaged. They had taken out 9 of the enemy units. Ten remained all with some degree of damage. If that's all it was then they would be home free. Unfortunately, the enemy was about to be reinforced. Four transports, potentially 20 fresh units. 'Crap,' Ranma thought.

"AI, ETA to Hind attack range?" Ranma demanded.

xxxxx

The Urz continued to fall back the dog leg in the canyon walls. It was a fifty meter long corridor only wide enough for three mecha to pass abreast. And because it limited fire the enemy could bring to bare, it was a great defensive position and Urz could hold it against the superior numbers of the enemy as long as the ammo held out.

Unfortunately, they were trapped there. Another 100 meters and the canyon opened up a little and stopped. The walls were high and steep, both a blessing and a curse. They couldn't get out but the enemy couldn't use them to take the high ground and pick them off like fish in a barrel.

The data they were getting relayed through the Angels of what was up outside didn't look reassuring either. The Angels had proven they were an impressively effective unit, having destroyed nine of the enemy between them without the enemy being about to get a shot at them. However, there were still ten more hostile AS's out there pinning Urz's battered ranks in the canyon.

And that wasn't the worst news. The enemy was about to be reinforced with potentially 20 fresh AS's and there wasn't anything they could do about it. Command would probably pull the Angels back in the face of such overwhelming numbers. That meant Urz was gonna die.

"Damn it!" Melissa swore. "Urz 1, 6, and 9, take up positions at the dog leg. Kill anything that comes around that corner. We're in a bad spot people. We may die today, but we're taking as many of the bastards with us as we can, got it?" The was a chorus of 'roger's. "Okay, Urz 4, 5, and 7, get take a break."

xxxxx

"Four Hinds inbound, ETA to missile range 15 seconds," Kaname's AI said.

"Angel 2," she said. "I'm going to take the Hinds out with surface to air missiles. You continue to snipe those hostile AS's. Make sure your AMS is armed in case the get a missile off."

"Roger," Angel 2 replied.

"AI, open surface to air missile doors and target the incoming Hinds," Kaname commanded. "Fire as soon as you get a lock."

7 seconds later, the first missile left the racks followed about a second later by the second through fourth at about 1 second intervals. Several seconds later three of the Hinds blossomed into fireballs and started dropping from the sky. The fourth missile struck the wreckage of one of the falling aircraft as it tried to track its evading target.

The Hinds had managed to get off three missiles before three of them were splashed. Four streams of .50 caliber tracers stabbed out at the incoming missile, sweeping them harmlessly from the sky.

"AI, as soon as you get lock on that last Hind, fire the missile," Kaname ordered as she brought up her 30mm and waited in case she needed to use them. As it happened she did. The Hind closed to gun range before the missile could get a lock. Kaname gutted it before it could get a bead on them. She then turned back to sniping at the remaining Hostiles blockading the canyon, noting Ranma had managed to take out two more of the UK-1's and cripple another.

xxxxx

"Angels, the surveillance drone has arrived on station and picked up 18 enemy units off loaded and headed into the theater. 10 more UK-1's, 6 rK-92's and Two have been confirmed as Codarls," Command said over the comm. "You are to pull back to the alternate dust off site to be extracted."

"But, Command, we can't do that!" Ranma protested. "If we leave then Urz is dead!"

"We're aware of the consequences Angel 2," Command said. "Your orders are to pull back to be extracted. We can't risk you or your AS's at this time."

"Okay, but we got a couple of minutes," Ranma said. "Until then get me a private encrypted channel with the Lt Commander." Then was a pause then Kalinin's voice came over the comm.

"Okay, Angel 2, speak your mind," Kalinin said.

"With all due respect, sir, this is bullshit," Ranma snarled. "We can take these guys. You KNOW we can. Just let us go unconventional and we'll rip them to pieces, Codarls or no Codarls. Sir, what's the point in having a weapons platform like this if we're not allowed to use it to its potential? Do you seriously want to throw away the lives of the whole SRT just to buy a couple more months of secrecy? We will have to use the Seraph's special abilities eventually. Why not now, when it can mean the difference of the lives of our colleagues? Come on, Sir, you know I wouldn't ask to put Angel 1 at risk if I wasn't certain we could pull this off. We CAN save them, sir. Let us do our job."

"You seriously think you can do this, Angel 2?" Kalinin asked.

"Sir, I don't think, I KNOW," Ranma said confidently.

"Very well, do it," Kalinin said.

"Yatta!" Ranma crowed. "Sir, one more thing."

"Yes, Angel 2?" Kalinin responded.

"See if you can air drop some ammo to Urz," Ranma suggested. "We might be a bit taking care of the ones they send hunting for us and Urz is going to have to hold the rest off until we can tear into the enemy's rear."

"Roger, Angel 2, they are already on the way," Kalinin confirmed.

"We've got work to do," Ranma said. "Gotta run." She switched channels.

xxxxx

"Okay, listen up, Urz," Angel 2 said. "Angels have been cleared to go unconventional. We're going to get you out of there, but you're gonna have to hang on for a while. You have an air drop of ammo on the way. We may be awhile dealing with what ever they send after us, but once we do we'll engage their rear. Once their good and distracted, I'll give you the signal and you can engage them from the other side. We'll have them for dinner and be home in time for cornflakes. Got it?"

"Roger that, Angel 2," Melissa responded. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Oh ye of little faith," Angel 2 returned. "Of course we know what we're doing. Saving your butts. Now I got work to do. Listen for the signal."

"Urz 2, is she nuts?" asked Urz 4. "She seriously thinks they can take on 20 AS's with just the two of them?"

"If she says she can do it then she can," Melissa said, but added, "I hope."

"It wouldn't seem a prudent move on their part," Urz 7 said. "However, Command would not have given them the go ahead if they didn't think there was a possibility. I don't know what she meant by going unconventional though. If she meant abilities like Arbalest, then I estimate their chance of success remote, given that there are two Codarls supported by 16 other units. Arbalest doesn't have the ability to change such an outcome."

"Well, at any rate, we do what the lady says," Melissa said. "We hold the pass until we get the signal or we die. When the air drop comes I want units not watching the pass to rearm. Those units will then guard the pass while the rest rearm. Until then, lets pray for the Angels, huh?"

xxxxx

"You ready, Angel 1," Angel 2 asked over the comm.

"Yup," Kaname grinned as she and Ranma fired the rest of their anti-armor missiles. "What do you have planned?"

"Well, first reengage your ECS. We are going stealth," Angel 2 replied as she suited action to words and her AS vanished. "Now, we don't have much time, so I explain while we take off. They will be sending at least some of their forces after us. I'm guessing that after the mauling we gave them with long range fire they'll be pretty eager to take us out first. That means they'll be sending the Codarl's and probably at least six other units. They probably will be expecting us to run, but we won't plan on that. What we are going to do is ambush them. Ah, yes, here we are. Now move over here to that side. We're going to let them go by, probably with the Codarls in the lead, then I'm going to fire a Moko Takabisha into them. It will probably take their trailing conventional AS's out of the fight from the beginning. I'm planning on at least two and damaging more of them. After I do that, we're going to try to put the Codarls down with a gauss rifle shot while they are disoriented. I'm guessing but I would say the pilots are pretty new and if they get distracted their Lambda Driver won't help them. After that we take out whatever's left over with the 30 mike mikes."

"Hold on, I'm getting data from the surveillance drone," Kaname said. "Well, would you look at that? I think I'm insulted. They only sent the two Codarls and two of the UK-1's after us. Idiots."

"Just makes things easier," Angel 2 responded.

They waited about five minutes before the four enemy mecha ran by them at speed. Angel 2 then stepped out behind them and powered up her opening salvo.

"Moko Takabisha!" she yelled over the comm.

The brilliant blue ball of ki shot forward into the backs of the trailing machines and blew them to shrapnel, knocking the two Codarls skidding on their faces.

Before the dust settled, Kaname fired her gauss rifle into one of the prone Codarls. It exploded impressively, further damaging its remaining comrade. Angel 2 fired her gauss rifle at the remaining AS and took out the Lambda Driver before finishing it off with her 30mm cannons.

"Oh shit," Angel 2 said causing Kaname to turn just in time to see the Seraph go flying and slam into the canyon wall.

"Ranma!" Kaname cried as she slammed a third Codarl, the one Sousuke had damaged earlier, with a kinetic bolt. The machine slammed into the canyon wall and crumpled like a beer can from the power of the force used on it. So focused on crushing the thing that hurt her Ranma, she totally missed the two UK-1's that opened up on her. She quickly regained her senses and refocused, throwing up her kinetic shield. It was too late for her AS's right arm though. It had been blasted off and her right missile launcher had been damaged.

It didn't matter, because in the next instant she saw Angel 2 descend on the pair like, well, an avenging angel, and shredded them with her ki claws. They never knew what hit them.

"You okay, Angel 1?" her teammate asked.

"Affirmative," she replied. "How about you, Angel 2?"

"I'm good, I got the ki shield up in time," Angel 2 chuckled. "See, if it hadn't been for all of Ryoga's attacks from behind without warning, I probably would have been toast. I'll have to remember to thank him for that one. You ready to go pull Urz's fat outa the fire?"

"I was born ready," Kaname replied. "Let's do it."

xxxxx

The resupply drop had came and went. Urz was fully loaded, albeit still somewhat battered. The sun was setting and not even one enemy AS's had come around the corner yet. Melissa sighed. This waiting was getting boring, but considering the alternative, she'd take boring. Data from the surveillance drone showed that 14 AS's awaited her team just outside the dog leg.

She hadn't heard from the Angels in a while but Command hadn't told her anything bad had happened so she continued to wait.

"Hey Urz," Angel 1 came over her comm. "You guys ready to get outa that hole you're stuck in?"

"You know it, Angel 1" Melissa said grinning.

"Well, you may want to come watch this," Angel 1 said. "I'm standing at the entrance to the dog leg so you can come on out. Angel 2 is about to mop up the last ten AS's so you better hurry or you'll miss it."

"Did she say Angel 2 is going to 'mop up' 10 AS's," Urz 6 asked incredulously.

"This I gotta see," Melissa said in disbelief. "Alright, Urz, lets move it out before we miss the action."

When the 7 remaining members of Urz came spilling out of the dog leg they all froze stock still. Angel 2 was whirling about in the center of a group of eight, whoops, no, seven UK-1's. As she danced around their wild fire, they were striking themselves instead of her. At the same time, her 30mm cannon fire was dead on, blasting chunks of armor off the out classed AS's. Occasionally, those blue shimmering claws that Melissa hadn't thought looked very dangerous would flash out and an AS arm would drop to the ground, or a torso would be shredded. Then, as if for variety, she would launch a glowing blue ball of light that would punch through an AS torso, destroying it and sending it flying back into the canyon wall. Before anyone could pick their jaws up off the ground, the last of the enemy fell to pieces before their eyes as Angel 2's arms seemed to blur, using her claws to peel the armor off the AS like an orange before planting a kick to its torso and smashing the hapless AS against the canyon wall.

"Holy shit," someone said.

Angel 2 paused as the last AS dropped to the ground and then turned toward the stunned Urz unit, stepping up to them. She dripped her AS in what looked amazingly like a graceful curtsy and stood.

"The Angels have arrived. Did somebody here pray for deliverance?" Angel 2 laughed as she unwittingly just coined the Angels slogan.

"Masaka," someone said in awe. It sounded suspiciously like Urz 7.

_**OOOOOOO**_

The strike team boarded the De Danaan to the cheers of the crew. Miraculously, Urz 3, 8, and 10 were alive, although Urz 8 would be spending some time in the infirmary with some broken bones and blood loss. The mission itself was not what could be called a success. Although the objectives were met, they discovered that most of the facility personnel had been successfully evacuated during the battle. Anything of intelligence value had been destroyed or taken, leaving neither clues as to who was responsible for it, nor any technical data on the new AS models. On the other hand, there were a surprising number of prisoners and disabled examples of the new units. Hopefully intelligence and R&D could pry something beneficial out of them.

Ranma parked her AS and crouched the Seraph down, dipping its nose to the floor and powering it down before popping the hatch. She climbed down to only to be confronted by a glowering and stern-looking Lt. Commander Kalinin. She gulped.

"Lt. Commander Kalinin, sir" she said crisply as she came to rigid attention and saluted.

The Lt. Comander stood there glowering, arms akimbo for a minute, driving Ranma's apprehension ever higher. He had just opened his mouth to say whatever was on his mind when a silver blur streaked passed him and glomped onto Ranma.

"Oh Lieutenant, thank you for bringing Sousuke home safely," Captain Tesstarossa sobbed into Ranma's cleavage. "You're so brave and wonderful! How can I ever repay you?" Ranma smiled apologetically to Kalinin and dropped her salute to comfort the crying girl. She could have sworn she saw the corner of his lips twitch up as he turned and stalked off to continue his survey of the returning strike team.

"It's alright, Madam Captain," Ranma said soothingly. "I just did my job, is all. Hey, look, Sousuke is out of Arbalest."

The normally clumsy young captain vanished so quickly that Ranma's pigtail fluttered in the slip stream. Ranma grinned as the serious sergeant was knocked off his feet when his emotional girlfriend barreled into him in a glomp that would have made Shampoo jealous. Then she was driven back against the nose of her Seraph as her own relieved fiancée cannon balled into her and kissed her passionately to the cheers of the people in the immediate area.

"Ahem," a throat clearing behind them interrupted the moment before it got too out of hand. Kaname reluctantly let go of Ranma and let the smaller girl up. The two grinned widely at each other and turned to the person who cleared their throat. They found themselves in a center of a semi-circle of the mobile Urz pilots, some of them with a slight trickle of blood coming from their noses from the sight of the two gorgeous women entwined in a passionate lip lock.

"We owe you guys big time," Melissa addressed them. The others all nodded in agreement. "We'd all be pushing up daisies if not for you're skill and bravery. You could have walked away and nobody would have faulted you for following orders, but you didn't. I think I speak for the entire SRT when I say; you two have proved yourselves today. You've proved yourselves to be competent officers and dedicated, steady comrades, as well as being the undisputable elite team of Mithril. Anybody says any different, I'll personally kick their ass. It is my honor and privilege to serve under two of the finest young officers it's ever been my pleasure to know. I'd follow you to hell, Lieutenants." With that, the entire Urz team loudly voiced their agreement and stood ram rod straight with a crisp salute to the wide-eyed pair of lieutenants. The effect wasn't even ruined by the fact that Sousuke still had Tessa, her arms and legs wrapped around him, tenaciously clinging like some sort of vine.

"Aw, come on guys," Ranma said after returning their salute before scratching the base of her pigtail, self-conscious in the face of such praise. "We didn't do anything you wouldn't have done for us."

And so it was that Ranma officially joined Kaname as another ship's hero. It was worth mentioning, that, though Ranma had earned the respect and admiration of the crew, it was still part in parcel of their respect and admiration of Kaname, simply because the crew found they couldn't view them separately. In their view, Ranma was part of Kaname, and Kaname was a part of Ranma, two parts of a whole person. To many, they had become viewed as the ideal couple, the couple that everyone aspired to be like. The perfect partnership.

_**OOOOOOO**_

_**Authors Note:**_

My rational on Ranma's skill/power as an AS pilot is thus...I drew parallels between the various AS models and human equivalents. I assigned them as follows:

The rK-92 seemed to be taken out relatively easy by the M-9 (and even well placed small arms fire) in the Anime. Therefore, I rated its power as a garden variety street thug.

The M-6 I rated as the average LEO (Law Enforcement Officer).

The M-9 was rated at the equivalent of a well trained soldier (Delta Force, Rangers or the like).

The UK-1 was rated as the equivalent of the typical elite soldier (USN Seals, for instance)

The Codarl and Arbalest, I placed at about a Mousse, Kuno, or Akane level, take your pick depending on the talent of the pilot.

Angel 1 (Kaname), I determined to be at a level somewhere between Ryoga and Shampoo (Shampoo's grace and mobility, with some of Ryoga's power and durability)

Angel 2 (Ranma) is Ranma's equivalent.

I hope this puts it into perspective for those of you that may have been feeling that Ranma wouldn't have had such an easy time defeating that many enemy units. Will there be a Herb or Saffron equivalent enemy AS? There almost has to be, doesn't there. However, I don't like writing the 'desperate battle' scenario. The problem, of course, is that Ranma and Kaname have just made everyone else obsolete and superfluous (which I think kinda sucks for the other characters). Thankfully, powerful ki using martial artists are few and far between, more so than the Whispered I expect. Perhaps if the Arbalest goes into a production run and replaces the Urz unit's M-9's and they confront greater numbers of the Codarl's the challenge can be restored.

_**OOOOOOO**_


	6. Clouds on the Horizon

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

**_Chapter 6: Clouds on the Horizon _**

"Gentlemen, we have a serious problem," a shadowed figure said from the foot of a long conference table around which were seated eleven other equally shadowed figure.

"You have a great talent for understatement, Number 12," a shadowed figure said. "We've lost a production facility and a great number of our newest Arm Slaves. Do we know who hit us?"

"Yes," Number 12 said. "One of our operatives managed to bring back video data from the debacle. It's very disturbing. It seems Mithril has a new AS model and a pair of incredibly talented pilots. Observe, Gentlemen."

High backed chairs swiveled around as a large screen flared to life in the wall. The scene initially depicted a group of familiar M-9's being driven back into a box canyon by the production facilities defenders. It showed as one of their Codarls tore into them only to be engaged and destroyed by Mithril's Lambda Driver equipped AS. Despite this loss, the defending forces soon had the Mithril unit pinned down with heavy fire.

Then two of their AS's inexplicably exploded, followed by two more. The scene shakily panned around to show a ridge line. The view zoomed in to reveal two unknown Arm Slaves. The image was too far to make out much detail, but as the gathered figures at the table watched twin contrails stabbed out from the mecha, followed by one launching several missiles. The view panned again and showed the defenders taking a heavy pounding by the impossibly accurate artillery and missile fire. The group watched the battle unfold and made gasps of amazement. It culminated in one of the new AS's taking on 10 of the new Jihad type AS's at once, while the other Mithril units watched as if it were an outsized pit fight. When it not only destroyed them but never seemed to be hit, there were several gasps of 'impossible'.

"What the hell were those things?" one of the group asked as the screen flickered off.

"We don't know," Number 12 said. "It would appear that Mithril has made some sort of break though with Black Technology. Our experts believe that they built those new AS's specifically to be piloted by Whispered pilots, based on the level of control the pilots seemed to have over the Lambda Drivers. As you saw, they are devastatingly effective. Three Codarls supported by four Jihad units were sent after them and were destroyed. However, it seems that while nothing we have can match them, they aren't all-powerful. If you noticed, our forces did manage to damage one of them."

"This is not good," one of the other figures commented. "What are we going to do?"

The group discussed the problem for several minutes. It was finally decided that the would keep an eye out for these AS's and after gathering further intel on them, an overwhelming force of Codarls would be sent to draw them out and destroy them and their pilots. It would be costly in the extreme to build enough of the Codarls to do it, but in the long run it would be more costly if the units were allowed to run rampant. If the pilots could be identified, it was agreed that assassination attempts would be made.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"What's the trouble, Bubble?" Kaname climbed into the subdued Ranma's lap and began to nuzzle the pigtailed young lieutenant's neck. He signed and wrapped his arms around her tightly, relishing the warmth of the teal haired woman's love.

"Does it bother you that we killed some of those people?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah, it does," Kaname said softly, "but you know what would have bothered me more? It would have bothered me more if they had killed you, or our friends, or innocent people, had we not been there to stop them. These are bad people, Love. You haven't been through some of the things I have with Mithril. The people Mithril fights are killers. They're without remorse, ruthlessly killing anyone who disagrees with them. Somebody has to stand against them, Love. You and I, we have that responsibility. Not just because we are gifted with skills that others don't have, but because of the very reason you are questioning yourself now. You, I, almost everyone at Mithril, we care, Love. We care about people. I don't think any of us likes what we do. We don't get up in the morning and think, 'gosh, I'm really looking forward to killing a few people today.' The people we fight do. It's our job, our responsibility, to stand against those kinds of people."

Ranma held Kaname closely and nuzzled her hair as he though about what she said. He'd been forced to choose between the life of an innocent and the life of someone who wanted to kill the innocent before with Saffron. The choice didn't sit well with him then and it wasn't any easier now. Still, he knew when he joined that in combat he would be forced to make such choices. When the time came, he'd found it easy not to think about the fact that there was a living being in the AS's he'd taken down. While he hadn't intentionally aimed at the pilot at any time, there were instances where he had used indiscriminate attacks like the anti-armor missiles and his Moko Takabisha. There were also times when his target had shifted and cause his shot to strike death blows where before they had been only disabling. Now that the action was over, he could vividly remember those shots and he felt regret for those lives snuffed out. Still, Kaname was right. It was the path of the warrior to sacrifice a small amount of their humanity for the good of others. Ranma knew he would continue to follow the path he'd been charged with, that of the warrior, but he vowed he would make sure he didn't sacrifice too much of his soul.

"I love you, Kaname," Ranma said to the girl cuddled in his lap. She looked up and smiled gently at him.

"I love you too, Ranma," she whispered against his lips,

The pair kissed, softly at first then with more urgency as their hands began to roam over the other's form.

_**OOOOOOO**_

After a couple hours of 'making it count' later, Ranma stood up from the bed and stretched languidly. Kaname watched from where she lay with a rumpled sheet casually covering her.

"Leaving so soon?" the teal hair temptress pouted adorably.

"Insatiable," Ranma laughed. "Come on, get up, Dearest. It's time for training."

"Hai, Sensei," she said, clearly having a different sort of activity in mind than Ranma did. Sighing, she got up and moved across the room in a slow sultry strut, knowing his eyes would be glued to her naked form.

"Erk," Ranma said at the brazen display.

"You're sure you want to train right now?" she said, letting her hand trail down her curvy torso while shooting him a smoky look.

"Erk," he repeated, then shook himself free of the spell. "Sweetie, we gotta train. As much as I'd love to say right here in this bed with you forever, duty calls."

Kaname giggled. "Honey, you are so fun to tease," she said happily.

The two got cleaned up and dressed before making their way to the hanger deck where they trained each day. Entering the bay, they had a surprise waiting for them. Urz was there waiting for them, dressed in sweats.

"What's up?" Ranma asked the assembled AS pilots.

"After seeing you in action and how your martial arts worked with your AS piloting, we wanted to ask you if you could train us," Melissa replied hopefully.

"You all realize that the only reason Kaname and I can do what we do is because of our ability to bond with the Seraph, right?" Ranma asked.

"We are aware of that, Lieutenant," Sousuke said dryly. "I believe I could benefit from your training when using Arbalest's Lambda Driver while the others could benefit from the increases in their speed and control training with you would achieve. We could also all use the skills in hand to hand combat you could teach us."

"Hmmm," Ranma said thoughtfully. "Well, I can't teach the Anything Goes School since I left it. However, lucky for you guys, the Anything Goes School is pretty much a joke. It's more like a style that steals from many other styles with very few proprietary moves of its own. I have high rankings in many styles myself like, Kenpo, Jeet Kune Do, Jujitsu armed and unarmed, Judo, Akido, Tai Chi Chuan, Shaolin Kung Fu, and Karate. I guess I can teach you those and to merge them if you what, but here's the thing, if you want me to train you than I expect dedication. I'll be hard on you and at times, and it's gonna hurt. It's really gonna hurt if I don't think you're trying hard enough. If you still want to do it then I guess I'll set something up."

_**OOOOOOO**_

"At ease, Lieutenant," Tessa said cheerfully. "Please have a seat. Would you like some tea?" Ranma smiled at the silver haired young woman and sat down next to Lt. Cmdr Kalinin.

"Madam Captain, Lt. Commander," Ranma greeted as he sat and declined the offer of tea. "What did you need to see me about?"

"Lieutenant, after the last battle, we've been able to convince Command to allow us to restructure the SRT," Kalinin said. "You are to become the CO of the AS group aboard the De Danaan, under me as the over all commander. Your unit will still be independent from Urz which will still be under the command of Sgt. Maj. Mao. However, we intend to reinforce the unit with new Arbalest model AS's. Given the you are our expert in non-Whispered use of the Lambda Driver, we would like your assessment on who we should put in these machines."

"Well, I can tell you, as of now, only Sgt. Maj. Mao and Sgt. Webber have the focus needed," Ranma said thoughtfully. "The entire Urz team came to me for training in the art. Depending on how well they respond, I could begin working on teaching them techniques to better their focus. I really couldn't say how effective it will be. Not everyone can achieve the proper state of mind to progress passed a certain point in the art. That also seems to carry over into the Lambda Driver. From what I've come up with since being brought in on the Seraph Project, you have to be one in body and mind to use the Lambda Driver. It's the same with the art. As you know, there is only a hand full of people around the world that can do what I do. I used to think that anyone could achieve the ability to manipulate their ki as I have, but more and more I'm coming to believe that those scientists are right. It is a gift like that of the Whispered. However, there are people that have the talent to become great in the art while not having ki abilities. Well, that's not necessarily true. Those people do use their ki, but not on a conscious level and not in the amounts that I or people like me do. Right now, Sgt. Sagara has that ability. Sgt. Maj. Mao and Sgt. Webber are right there. With a few focusing techniques and practice they could reach Sousuke's level very quickly."

"We will be getting three more Arbalest models when we get back to base to refit, Lieutenant," Tessa said. "I would like you to start preparing Miss Mao, Mr. Webber, and one other that you feel has the potential. They will be the new pilots."

"Roger," Ranma grinned.

"Here's how the new structure will work, Lieutenant," Kalinin said. "The four Arbalests will form the central company for the SRT. The remaining M-9's will operate in support of that company. Command still wants Angel held back to keep the extent of the Seraph's abilities under wraps. We have been directed to deploy Angel as fire support only, unless the Arbalests run into something they can't handle. I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but at least you will be seeing more action than before and we have a freer hand to utilize you and Lieutenant Chidori."

"I understand, Sir," Ranma sighed. He didn't like having to sit back out of harms way, but he had to admit that the Seraphs were well suited to provide accurate long range fire support.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Three days until we get back, Kaname," the silver haired young woman grinned. "The only a week until the big day. Are you excited?" Kaname smiled brightly as she, Tessa and Melissa made their way through the streets of the Okinawa shopping district.

"You know I am," Kaname giggled. "I'm so happy I want to shout it to the world. I'M MARRYING MY RANMA IN A WEEK!" Unnoticed to the trio, one of the other occupants of the street looked up and narrowed her eyes, deciding that this group needed to be followed.

"So what's our pigtailed lieutenant doing that he let his other half out of his sight for shore leave, hmm?" Melissa asked teasingly. "I think this is the first time I've seen the two of you apart in a long time."

"I know," Kaname said. "He and the other guys stayed behind to work on Corporal Dominguez's focus training. I miss him so much and it's only been a couple of hours. It's amazing how I can spend almost every hour for the past year and a half with him and not feel crowded by him. That's love I guess!" Kaname's eyes widened and she gasped. "Sore Ga Ai Deshou! That's the perfect theme song for our wedding! I definitely find the answer I'm looking for when I look in those clear ocean blue eyes and that breath taking smile of his!" Kaname's companions giggled at the happy girl.

"You've got it bad, Kaname," Melissa laughed.

"Why, Melissa, are you jealous?" Kaname teased.

"You know, I think I just might be," the dark haired woman grinned. "Feel like sharing?"

"Hey! Get your own!" Kaname mock-growled. "There's always Sgt. Webber. He's kinda cute."

"Ha! That playboy?" Melissa dismissed. "Besides, for all that he acts like he's on the prowl his heart still belongs to his poor comatose girlfriend back home. I won't play second fiddle to a girl in a coma."

"Don't worry, Melissa, maybe you can hook up with one of Ranma's friends when they come to Chofu for our wedding," Kaname suggested.

"Yeah, right," Melissa snorted. "You forget who had him under surveillance in Nerima before we recruited him from there. He didn't have any friends, only psychotic women that wanted to own him and their psychotic boyfriends that wanted to kill him because their stupid tramps wanted him." The three companions heard a something shatter behind them but when the looked around they didn't see anything. Shrugging they moved on.

"Well, there's always Shinji," Kaname smirked. "I bet he'd just love to play with your 'AS'."

"The JSDF officer's military trivia nut son?" Melissa laughed. "That'd be like robbing the cradle. Besides, I doubt he'd know what to do with my 'AS' if I let him play with it."

"You might be surprised, Melissa," Kaname teased. "It has been a couple of years, he might have hit a growth spurt. And all you'd have to do is let him touch 'it' and he worship you till his dying day. I bet you wouldn't even need to give him a mission briefing." Kaname laughed while Melissa rolled her eyes. "What about it, Tessa, has Sousuke 'secured the objective' yet?" The silver haired girl blushed.

"I...um...well..." Tessa stammered.

"You mean he hasn't?" Kaname asked incredulously.

"Well...not exactly," the girl admitted.

"Not exactly?" Kaname asked with half lidded eyes.

"Well, you see, I was all set for him to...um...'press forward to the final objective'," the petite girl sad sadly. "I was laid out on the couched, dressed for the occasion when he came in. He took one look at me and his nose exploded in a fountain of blood and he passed out. It was embarrassing. For the rest of the week he couldn't look at me without getting a blank look in his eyes and a trickle of blood from his nose." Kaname and Melissa developed a large sweat drop on the back of their heads.

"Sheesh, I guess I really was lucky with Ranma," Kaname said. "With his girl form, he's kind of immune to blowing a blood vessel at the site of a female body. And his ability to see my aura makes him a great lover. I asked after we first made love how he'd gotten so good if it was his first time and he told me that when he touched the right spot, my aura lit up like a fireworks display. He's incredible in bed."

The women heard another crash from behind them. The looked around and saw a fist sized hole in the wall of a shop a short way down but didn't see anything. They looked at each other and shrugged before walking on. Tessa sighed.

"Don't worry, Kiddo," Melissa said reassuringly. "I'm sure Sousuke will come around."

"Yeah, maybe I can get Ranma to talk to him," Kaname added.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"So the blue haired witch thinks she can claim what's mine," the observer growled. "I must wait until Chofu, when my property is there, then I will kill her and take what's mine."

The figure bounded away over the roof tops, while another observing figure decided to make plans for a surprise of his own.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Yo, Sancho," Ranma said cheerfully, "I think you got it."

"You think I'm ready, Lieutenant?" the burly Hispanic asked as he removed his fist from the rubble that used to be a stack of bricks.

"Yup," Ranma grinned at him. "You're ready."

"I still don't see how breaking a bunch of bricks will help us use the Lambda Driver," Kurz griped. Ranma sighed.

"Kurz, what's harder, normally," Ranma asked, "a brick, or someone's fist?"

"A brick, but what's that got to do with it?" Kurz asked.

"How do you suppose Corporal Dominguez was able to punch through those bricks without hurting himself?" Ranma asked.

"I dunno, some sort of martial arts trick, I guess," Kurz answered.

"No, it's all in the focus," Ranma explained. "Come on, Kurz, you were able to do this and you still haven't caught on?" Kurz shrugged. "Look, when you focus on breaking the bricks, the reason the bricks break and not you hand is that you pool your ki in your fist. This exercise gets you used to directing your ki to augment your body. When you use the Lambda Driver, you are doing the same thing, only the Lambda Driver takes the ki and amplifies it and uses it in the AS body. Like say for instance, you want to punch you AS's fist through another AS. Ordinarily your AS would receive damage too, but using the same technique that you use to break the bricks, your AS's fist is infused with ki and protected while the target you are punching is damaged not only by the physical impact but by the ki energy built up in your AS fist as well. It's kinda like a shaped charge. The energy discharges on the target, doing the damage, while protecting your fist. With enough training, you can do this all over your body as well, making your skin resistant against an attack."

"You mean we'll start glowing like you do sometimes?" Kurz asked.

"No, I doubt it," Ranma disagreed. "It's different for me. I can actively manifest my ki and project it. Most people can be trained to use their ki inside their own body, but I've come to believe that only people with an inborn gift can project it like I do."

"How do you mean?" Dominguez asked, not having witnessed some of the things Ranma had done. Ranma looked at Kurz, who waved his hands around as if to ward something off.

"Hey, he asked," Kurz said quickly. "He gets to be the victim this time."

"Real tough guy, ain't ya, Kurz," Ranma chuckled.

"Hey that crap hurts," Kurz protested.

"Alright, Corporal," Ranma grinned. "Do you want a first hand demonstration?" Dominguez looked unsure, but nodded. "Okay, what would you say if I said I could knock you across the bay from ten meters away?"

"I'd say you were on some heavy-duty ganja," Dominguez grinned. Ranma smirked.

"Okay, stand over there and set yourself," Ranma instructed. "Be ready to roll with the impact. It's gonna feel like you got hit with an AS fist. You ready?"

"When you are, Lieutenant," Dominguez grinned.

Ranma gathered his ki and began to pool it into a ball in his cupped hands. When it was big enough for the demonstration but not large enough to hurt the corporal too much, he thrust it out, yelling, "Moko Takabisha!"

The blue ball of energy stabbed forward and struck the wide eyed corporal and sent him sprawling across the bay. The stunned corporal lay on the deck wincing in pain, but not otherwise injured. Ranma walked over and checked on him. Assured that nothing was damaged he offer the man a hand up.

"Santa Maria," Dominguez gasped as he got to his feet. "What the hell was that?"

"That was a ki blast," Ranma smirked. "I can also use my ki to boost my strength and speed to superhuman levels, cut things, heat or freeze things, and even put up a shield to protect myself. Also I can infuse my ki into an inanimate object. Not only can this increase the strength of that object, but it can also be used to control that object, but to control it, I have to be touching it."

"That's why you and Lieutenant Chidori are so damn good with those Seraphs, isn't it?" Dominguez asked.

"I couldn't say one way or another," Ranma said. "However, Kaname can't do what I do. I've been teaching her various techniques and she is starting to develop the ability to use her ki some, but her ki use seems to work differently than mine. I have to focus my ki through an emotion to project it, usually I use confidence, but Kaname doesn't seem to have to do that. Her ki isn't as powerful, but her control is instinctively finer than mine."

"Speaking of," Kurz grinned, "how come you aren't writhing on the floor in mortal agony yet, Ranma?"

"Huh?" Ranma asked.

"Well, it has been several hours since she left the boat to go shopping with the other girls," Kurz explained. "I figured you'd be going through withdrawls by now. You two have practically been joined at the hip since BT. Scuttlebutt says it'd take a pair of AS's to pry you apart."

"Don't you worry about that, Kurz," Ranma chuckled. "Besides, I'm sure I'll get my 'fix' with interest when she comes back." Ranma shook his head ruefully. "I love her more than life itself, but sometimes I wonder how I'm going to survive the wedding night."

"You braggin' or complainin'?" Kurz laughed.

"Well, I ain't complainin'," Ranma smirked. "What about you, Sousuke? You planning on claiming our lovely little captain anytime soon?"

"I...um...that is...it's...It's not a problem," Sousuke stammered, turning red.

"Well, you better not wait too long," Ranma laughed at the somber sergeant. "If you make her wait much longer, she might just confine you to her quarters until the 'objective has been secured'."

"I think she already tried that," Kurz teased. "He came back one night with glazed over eyes and the mother of all nose bleeds after going to see her. He couldn't look at her for a week without a trickle of blood coming out of his nose." The three men laughed while Sousuke just turned redder and looked at the deck. Ranma decided he needed to have a talk with the sergeant.

"Okay, guys, that's it for today," Ranma said. "Sousuke, my quarters, if you would."

_**OOOOOOO**_

"So what's up?" Ranma asked as they seated themselves in the sitting room of Ranma's quarters.

"I don't know what you mean," Sousuke said flatly.

"What's going on between you and Tessa?" Ranma clarified. "Far be it from me to give advice to the lovelorn but I figured it might help if you talk about it."

"I...I really don't know what to say," Sousuke said, unused to talking about his problems with anyone.

"Let's start by telling me how you feel about her," Ranma suggested.

"I think she's a very competent captain who cares for her crew," Sousuke answered, causing Ranma to roll his eyes.

"I meant how you feel about her as a girl, not an officer," Ranma said.

"I...don't know," Sousuke said, obviously confused.

"Well, when you're around her do you feel differently than when you're around, say, me, or Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin?" Ranma asked. "Do you feel energized, or lighter than normal? When she smiles at you does it seem like the room got brighter? Does it cause your heart to clinch in your chest? Do you have the urge to make her smile again so you can feel that again?"

"I would say that was an accurate assessment," Sousuke said.

"Okay, so when you touch, when you kiss her how do you feel?" Ranma asked.

"I feel like there's a pressure that builds inside me," Sousuke replied. "I don't know what it is, but I feel like I'm going to explode."

"Does that scare you?" Ranma asked in a friendly non-judging a tone as he could muster.

"Yes, it does, because I don't understand it and I can't control it," Sousuke said.

"What if I were to tell you that pressure is perfectly normal?" Ranma asked.

"It is?" Sousuke asked surprised.

"Yes," Ranma smiled. "What you are feeling is your passion and desire for her. It's your body's way of telling you that you care about her a lot and you want to know her completely. Your body is telling you what you can't mentally grasp, that you may well be in love with her."

"In love with her?" Sousuke asked in wonder. "But I don't even know what love is."

"Love is when one particular person's happiness means more to you than that of anyone else," Ranma explained, "particularly your own happiness. When you love someone, you would do anything to make that person happy, to see them smile. You would go to any lengths to protect them from harm and their pain becomes your own as if you feel it for them."

"I see," Sousuke said, "but what about the pressure? What happens if it gets too great?"

"Than you pass out and get a huge nose bleed," Ranma chuckled. "But seriously, the pressure will only get too great if you don't express how you feel. You once gave me some really fantastic advice about that, do you remember?" Sousuke looked blank. "You told me to watch for her advances and meet them with equal commitment. You said to face them with courage and I would win the most priceless objective. Now it's time you followed your own advice. She loves you, Sousuke. And it sounds like you love her. She wants to make you happy. She wants to give herself to you. Let me give you some advice that Kaname gave me. We are soldiers. At any time, we could die in combat and leave the people we love behind. This is why we need to make the time we have with these people count. Do you really want to leave her without her knowing how you felt about her? Do you want to deny her the experience she most desires, sharing her love with you?"

"But she does," Sousuke said. "She says she loves me all the time."

"Sousuke," Ranma groaned, "have you ever had sex ed? Do you know what making love is?"

"I know sex is whether one is a man or a woman," Sousuke said. "Men have certain parts and women have others. These parts are concerned with reproduction."

"Good, at least you know what they do," Ranma said tiredly, chiding himself because he to was this ignorant at one time. At least he wasn't charging Sousuke to explain it to him like he was when Nabiki explained it. "Sousuke, when a man and a woman love each other, one of the strongest ways they can express this is making love..." Ranma continued on for some time detailing the process to the increasingly embarrassed military man.

"So you...and Kaname..." Sousuke asked in embarrassment.

"As often as possible," Ranma said. "We call it 'making it count' because we want every moment we have with each other to count and making each other feel so damn good is the best way to do that."

"So that means, when Captain Tessa was laying on the couch wearing...not much, and the pressure got really high, I wanted to do...that...with her?" Sousuke asked with wide eyes.

"You get a gold star!" Ranma grinned. "And if she was laying there on the couch not wearing much, knowing you were going to come in, then I'm betting she wanted you to do 'that' with her. And another thing, if you love her and you do...'make it count' with her, you should consider proposing to her. Ask her for her hand in marriage. It's a declaration that you want to spend the rest of you life by her side making her happy. It's not something you shouldn't do lightly, so you need to think about whether that's something you want. If she wants to spend the rest of her life making you happy, she'll say yes."

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma sighed unhappily as she sat on the nose of her Seraph and watched from the ridge she was parked on as the Urz team put their new AS's through their paces. They were doing fantastic with the Lambda Driver, just like she thought they would. Her training had paid off in spades. Sousuke was far better now than he had been and the other Urz members weren't too far behind. So why was she unhappy?

She missed Kaname. Kaname and Tessa had already let for Chofu to complete the wedding arrangements that had been begun by Kaname's friends there. That had been three days ago and Ranma felt ever instant of her absence. She sighed again, shifting a little on the Seraph.

"That was a heavy duty sigh there, Ranma," a voice said from beside the Seraph.

"Gah!" Ranma mentioned as she jumped and nearly slid off the AS. Seeing who had spoken, she leaped gracefully to the ground before coming to attention and issuing a sharp salute. "Major, may I ask what you are doing here? This is a classified area."

"Good morning to you too, Ranma," Nabiki chuckled saluting back. "Don't worry, I have clearance." Nabiki showed Ranma her badge. "Now, what's with the sighing? Are the troops not working out?"

"No, they're performing as expected, Ma'am," Ranma said.

"Sheesh, at ease, Lieutenant," Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Look when it's just you and me, I don't want us to stand on convention, okay? We've known each other for a long time. I think that rates some familiarity."

"Aye, Aye, ma'am," Ranma said with a smile.

"So what's got you panties in a bunch if the troops are doing okay?" the intel officer quizzed.

"Well, it's just that, well, Kaname has been in Chofu for the last three days," Ranma sighed. "It's the longest we've been apart since we met. I really miss her."

"So are you nervous?" Nabiki asked with a smile.

"A little, I guess," Ranma admitted. "Not that I'm having second thoughts. I want this more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. I just want it to be perfect for her."

"You really love her a lot, don't you?" Nabiki asked gently. Ranma shrugged.

"She's the other half of my soul, Nabiki," Ranma said simply. "My life is hers, her life is mine."

The pair stood there in silence for a few minutes watching the Urz team practice.

"What did you come for, Nabiki?" Ranma asked.

"Well, I wanted to see how things were going with the new ARX-7 pilots," Nabiki answered, "but really I just wanted to come visit with you and see how you were doing. I wanted to see if you were enjoying your last days as a free..." Nabiki gestured up and down at Ranma and smirked, "woman." Ranma grinned ruefully.

"I haven't been that since a year and a half ago on a beach when I lost my heart to the most beautiful sight anyone has ever seen," Ranma said with a fond smile.

"I'm happy for you, Little Brother," Nabiki hugged her. "I really am. You deserve it."

"Nah, I'm not worthy of her," Ranma said. "She deserves much better than the likes of this worthless sexchanging ronin. It amazes me everyday that she said yes." She then winced as Nabiki slapped her in the face.

"Stop it, Ranma," Nabiki said harshly. "I'm sure if Kaname heard someone talking about her chosen that way she beat the snot out of them, so since she isn't here, I guess that's my privilege."

"Touché, Nabiki," Ranma replied, laughingly.

"Anyway, you'll be glad to know that Kasumi is going to be there and she's bringing Tofu," Nabiki said.

"Good, it'll be really good to see them again," Ranma said happily.

The pair continued to watch the AS's below while chatting about old times and the new ones the future had in store for them. Nabiki could hardly believe the bright well spoken happy person with her was the same Ranma that had left Nerima. She had changed a lot and for the better. It was comforting for Nabiki to know that things really could work out.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Gosh, Kaname, you're going to be such a beautiful bride," Kyouko gushed as she snapped a picture of Kaname as she stood on the platform while the seamstress made alterations to the pure white satin and lace gown she wore. "You're going to knock his socks off."

"Yes, Kaname, you look amazing," Tessa agreed.

"You're so lucky, Kaname," Mizuki said as she hugged a photo of Ranma possessively. "I mean this guy is so gorgeous. He much cuter than the military maniac you used to hang around with."

"Hey!" Tessa protested, feeling compelled to defend her boyfriend's honor. "That's my boyfriend you're talking about!"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Mizuki said giving the silver haired girl an odd look. "But this Ranma is a total hotti. What's he like?"

"Where to begin?" Kaname giggled. "He strong, sweet, sensitive, caring, compassionate, protective, probably one of the best martial artist on the planet, and he makes me feel so loved and cherished. I wake up everyday thanking the kami that gave him to me."

"He sounds too perfect," Mizuki laughed. "He must have a down side."

"He was a little rough around the edges at first," Kaname admitted. "He was raised on the road training in martial arts by a father that didn't believe in education or much of anything that didn't relate to martial arts. But he's polishing up nicely. He doesn't realize just how brilliant he really is to be perusing a college degree even after having such a spotty education. He also has a condition."

"A condition?" Mizuki asked.

"Some people might be put off by it," Kaname said conversationally. "I guess I was a little at first, but then as I got to know him I've come to cherish it as part of him, a part that I love as much as him." Kaname bit her lip, wondering if she should be telling her friends this.

"Well tell us!" Mizuki demanded. Kaname decided that it would come out sooner or later and if her friends couldn't handle it, then it was their loss.

"Well, not only is he a gorgeous guy," Kaname said smiling, "but thanks to a magical spell that he got in China, he turns into the most adorable girl."

Her friends froze with a giant sweat drop on the back of their heads.

"Magic spell, huh," Mizuki said in a flat tone. "Good one, Kaname. Just how stupid do you think we are?"

"Yeah, Kaname," Kyouko said. "You don't really expect us to believe that do you?"

"It's true," Tessa giggled. "I know it's hard to believe until you see it happen, but I assure you it's true."

"So he likes to dress up like a girl, huh?" Mizuki asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say 'likes'," Kaname grinned, "but she does when she's in girl form. And believe me, the change is complete. She even has a period." Kaname directed Tessa to get a picture of Ranma's girl form out of her purse.

"Well, she certainly is a healthy girl," Kyouko said.

"I can see the resemblance," Mizuki said, "but come on, Kaname, you really expect us to buy that?"

"It doesn't matter if you do or don't," Kaname laughed. "It's the truth. And given the tendency of water to find him, you will probably see it happen at some point. Hopefully not until after the ceremony and the first dance. I would like for him to be a guy for that much. However, I wouldn't mind for him to be a her after that."

Kaname's friends looked at her like she was nuts. Kaname and Tessa just laughed knowingly.

_**OOOOOOO**_


	7. Bondage, Bedlam, and Bliss

_**Full Ranma Panic**_

By Lisa Grey

**_Author's Note:_** Warning! This chapter contains sexual situations, very harsh language, and violence. On a lighter note, I added an omake to the end of chapter 4. I hope you think it's as funny as I did.

**_Chapter 7: Bondage, Bedlam, & Bliss_**

Ranma was carried off the plane, bound with high strength steel AS mooring cables and gagged with a cloth stuffed in his mouth held in with a piece of duct tape. He had tried to struggle but it only left him with sore places where the cables had rubbed him raw. He had quit struggling and had resigned himself to whatever torments and humiliations fate had in store for him. All he could think was that Kaname was going to be pissed when he didn't show up for the wedding tomorrow.

He was blind folded so he couldn't see, but he sensed several men around him. They carried him some way from the plane and dumped him in the back of a truck. One of several, if he guessed right by the sounds of engines roaring to like, They traveled for about 45 minutes before they arrived at whatever destination his torture was to occur. He felt himself lifted and carried into the warmer air of a building. Once in the building, he was carried up a short flight of stairs and placed in a chair.

"Okay, Soja-boy," one of the men still surrounding him addressed him. "You feel that?" Ranma felt a prod on his upper arm and nodded. "That's a pneumatic hypo filled with enough tranquilizers to drop four bull elephants. Oh, yes, we know all about your resistance to drugs, but even you won't be able to fight this stuff. We're going to let your legs loose so we can re-secure them in a bit more of a comfortable position for you. You be a good little trooper and we won't have to use the tranq, got it?"

Ranma nodded and the men set to work tying his legs spread widely to the legs of the chair he was in while the hypo never left his arm. The same process was repeated for his arms, securing them to the arms of the chair. Discretely testing, he found that the chair was more than sturdy enough to resist his strength. He felt a sudden heat and sensed someone had aimed a high intensity light at him right before the t-shirt he was wearing was ripped from his body, leaving him bare chested.

"Interesting tan line you got there, Soja-boy," the same voice remarked to Ranma's embarrassment.

Kaname's love of swimming and the beach, coupled with her insistence that he wear a bikini had left a rather obvious tan line where the bikini top had covered his girl form's breasts. This carried over into his boy form, as did the various scars he had. A rough hand grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head back. The gag was pulled off and the cloth extracted from his mouth.

"Now be a good little trooper and drink this, or we'll have to employ less...pleasant methods. It's just a little something to loosen you up."

He felt the rim of tube or funnel pressed into his mouth and liquid begin to flood in. Ranma had no choice but to drink or drown. The liquid tasted of alcohol but wasn't unpleasant. It was administered in four different doses and Ranma began to feel relaxed and somewhat buzzed. He sensed the men gathered around fade away leaving him alone.

About fifteen minutes later Ranma was really feeling whatever it was that they had poured into him. He felt someone step up behind him and begin to untie the blind fold. The cloth was whipped from his eyes and the man behind him stepped away, never having come into sight.

Ranma blinked at the harsh light that bathed him. He appeared to be on some sort of raised platform, tied to a bulky low backed metal chair, with no less than four spotlights on him. He squinted, but was unable to make out any of the presences he sensed just beyond the pool of light he was in. It wasn't until the music started and the first girl strutted out on the stage and began to dance suggestively around and on him, that he realized what was going on.

Almost two hours, several songs, and a stream of scantly clad gorgeous women later, Ranma still hadn't succumbed. Oh, he was turned on alright. He was human after all, but he kept a mental image of Kaname in his mind and that gave him the strength to keep from reacting in an overt manner.

Then she came out. Her face was shrouded in a tight latex mask, leaving only her eyes, her sensuous lips and her chin visible. Her hair was long and blonde and her body was lithe and supple as she slinked across the stage toward him, undulating to the heavy techno beat of the music. There was something all at once arousing and disturbingly familiar about the way she moved. The bound young officer gulped as her pure sensuality practically oozed over him. She spun and whirled suggestively around him, trailing her fingers across his chest as she circled around him before stopping in front of him at a pause in the music. Her hand was on her hip while her other hand stoked her hair as she shot him a smoky look over her shoulder.

As the music picked up again, she whirled away and her top came free falling to the floor. Her creamy breasts were barely contained in black lace demi-cup bra as she undulated and bucked her body in an, oh, so enticing manner. Next to fall to the floor was the nearly not there micro miniskirt she was wearing. Now the seductress danced in only in her bra, a high cut black lace thong, thigh high stockings and a pair of six inch spike heels.

She slid into his lap, sensually turning to face him with an amazing display of flexibility and grace as she lifted her leg straight up and pivoted around, giving him a nice view of her lace coated nether region. She brought her leg down and she sat straddling his lap. With her arms folded over her head, she arched her body and ground her pantied mound into his member though his pants. Ranma was sweating now with the effort not to react, although a silly grinned graced his reddened face. She trailed a hand down her face, slowly sucking on a finger before reaching out and tracing her moistened finger across his lips and down his chest, teasingly close to the waist of his pants. Her hand came up and met the other as it trailed down to cup her breasts. With a sudden movement to the beat of the music, she whipped the bra off and arched her body, thrusting her breasts in his face as she continued to buck against him below. Wrapping her arms around his head she pulled his face into her smooth well shaped breasts as she rubbed her whole torso against him.

She leaned back, leaving the bra hanging from his neck and tickling his chest, she performed an amazing display of gymnastics. While still straddling his lap, she leaned way back, placing her hands on the floor and continued the motion into a walk over which gave Ranma a good view of her still shrouded treasure. She continued her dance as teasingly, bit by bit, the thong began to come off. Unlike the other girls, this one seemed about to go the whole nine yards. She moved around behind him and after a pause her leg appeared over his shoulder. She trailed a sensual hand down his face turning it to face her. His eyes widened as what he got was a face full of her neatly trimmed mons. She held him there as she writhed and bucked against him with his face pressed against her. It became very clear to him that she was enjoying this greatly and had become very aroused. Her juices flowed freely and coated his chin as she ground herself sensually into his face. It was all he could do to restrain himself from extending his tongue and taking what was being offered.

She moved gracefully from that sweet torture until she stood on the seat of the chair straddling him. Writhing and bucking, she caressed her hands up and down her body before one hand trailed down to cup and caressed herself. Ranma could see the juices of her arousal coating the tops of her thighs. She threw her head back and moaned sensually as her fingers stroked sensitive parts. She sank slowly to her previous position of straddling his lap and bucking against his lap, which he suddenly realized had lost the battle and was now fully displaying a reaction. The girl was quite obviously close to climaxing as she shoved the fingers that had caressing herself her into his mouth. Involuntarily, or so he liked to believe, he gently sucked on the intruding digits. Her bucking came faster and suddenly she moaned loudly as an intense climax blasted through her taut body. Her well toned muscles stood out and vibrated as her pleasure coursed through her. Finally the sensual shuddering passed and she collapsed against him in a deep passionate kiss, which happened to coincide with the end of the song. As the last notes of music drifted from the air, she broke the kiss and leaned back with a familiar smirk.

"I always did get off on teasing you, Ranma," the girl said with a smile.

"N...Na...Nabiki?" Ranma squeaked. The girl winked at him and put her finger to her lips.

"I can tell you how long I've wanted to do this," she gestured around the stage, "with you," she finished. She grinned wickedly and slid off of the stunned Ranma. In loud voice she called, "Okay boys, my work here is done," she reached down grabbing Ranma's still fully erect member and stroked it gently, displaying it's rigidness through his pants to the audience. "Have fun!" She winked at him again before she slinked off stage in a sensual hip rolling walk as the audience cheered and whistled.

As Nabiki left the stage Melissa Mao, Kurz Webber, and Sancho Dominguez all climbed up on the stage and began to release Ranma, who was trying hard to glare at them and not grin.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," Sancho grinned as he worked on the bindings, "we just though since you are always so in control of yourself you might like to let someone else have control for a while. That and we didn't think you'd have come any other way."

"Yeah, and you sure seemed to enjoy your self, Lieutenant," Kurz said from undoing the leg bindings.

"Not as much as she did," Mao laughed using her finger to wipe some of the drying juices from Ranma's chin then sucked her finger clean. "Mmm," she commented with a grin as the shocked men looked at her.

She arched an eyebrow at the guys, finger still in her mouth, and Ranma laughed. Shaking their heads, the others finished releasing Ranma and handed him a drink and a shirt.

The party continued deep into the night as the booze and girls flowed freely. Nabiki showed up a little bit after Ranma was released, dressed for a night on the town and her hair back to normal. He noticed that she and Melissa seemed quite chummy, not going so far as to make out in front of everyone but clearly there was something between them more than idle friendship. The crowning moment of the evening, aside from the sweet torture of Ranma, was a repeat performance when Ranma easily subdued Sousuke and the somber sergeant found himself trussed to the chair being showered with feminine pulchritude. The professional girls had been quite inspired by Nabiki's performance and rose to the challenge of teasing the poor sergeant into a reaction without having him pass out with a bloody nose. Ranma stood by the whole time with a bucket of cold water to revive Sousuke, which he had to do several times.

While Ranma was on stage doing bucket duty, Kurz managed to slip up and douse him. He narrowly avoided the redhead's likely painful retribution when she found herself captured by Melissa and Nabiki. Nabiki had explained that she had paid Kurz to do it and then she and Melissa, being quite lit, made Ranma, who was also quite lit, dance risquély with them on stage, much to the cheers and whistles from the audience. The pictures would haunt Ranma for a long time.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Kaname might have been upset with Ranma for what was happening to him, had something very similar not been happening to her. Thanks to Kyouko, her evening was photo documented as well, and when, in the aftermath, the couple had viewed the photos, they could only laugh at each other.

However, that wasn't on either of their minds at the moment as they crawled from their separate beds. Their minds were on the events that were to take place later that day. Miraculously, neither of the two had a hang over to temper their joy and anticipation. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for their friends.

Ranma sat up in her bed stretching and yawning impressively. As she wiped the sleep from her eyes, a large grin lit her face. She practically sprang from the bed and looked around the hotel room. On the bed next to hers, Melissa and Nabiki lay naked curled around each other, deep in peaceful slumber.

'Who knew Nabiki was that way?' Ranma chuckled. She'd always had her suspicions about Melissa. Everybody just assumed that she was dishonorably discharged from the USMC because of her boozing, but Mithril wouldn't have snapped up an alcoholic who let her problems affect her duty badly enough to cause a dishonorable discharge, and Ranma was perceptive enough to read between the lines. The American military did still have that 'don't ask don't tell' policy after all. Ranma felt a little honored that Melissa felt comfortable enough with her that she allowed her into a part of her life that normally the woman kept discrete. Grinning, she nudged the bed of her sleeping companions.

"Get up, Sleepy Heads," Ranma sang gently. When she didn't get a response, she shook their shoulders. "Wakie Wakie," she sang a little louder, "or else I'm sending Sgt. Webber in here to wake you." Both girls were instantly awake. They both groaned and put a hand to their heads.

"Mornin' 'Biki-chan," Melissa slurred.

"Mornin' 'Lissa-chan," Nabiki said groggily, then glared at Ranma. "That wasn't very nice Ranma-chan. After all we did keep the guys form coming in here and molesting you last night."

"Yeah, yeah," Ranma chirped. "But who was keeping the two of you from molesting me? Anyway, today is the big day. You guys need to get up and get ready. Remember, you two are in charge of security and you need to get to the chapel to make sure everything is tight."

"I still think you're being paranoid," Melissa griped.

"Trust me, 'Lissa-chan," Nabiki chuckled, "whenever Ranma-chan has a wedding ceremony, security is very much a required detail."

"Well, I'm going to shower and change," Ranma said. "You guys go kick the guys and get'em up."

"Roger," Melissa said tiredly.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Ranma stood at the front of the isle. Beside him stood Sousuke, as his best man and Kurz as a groomsman. He surveyed the gathered people. On his side of the aisle sat Nabiki, Kasumi, and Tofu. What surprised him was that Ryoga and Ukyo had managed to make it. They sat very close together and held hands. Noticing his gaze on them they both waved. Ukyo smiled for him but it seemed strained. He noticed that her grip on Ryoga's hand was rather tight. Clearly she still had feelings for him and his heart went out to her. He gave her a compassionate smile and mouthed 'Thank you' to her. She smiled and nodded before bringing up her hand to wipe under her eye. Also on his side sat half the crew of the De Danaan.

Kaname's side held many more people from her past. Like Ranma, she had no family to witness the coming event. Unlike him, she had several friends from high school, easily twice as many as him. He didn't know any of them personally but he could pick out some from her stories. He thought he recognized Hayashimizu, the elegant silver haired man seated next to the girl he was guessing to be Ren Mikihara. Next to them he saw a short haired girl he recognized from Kaname's photos as Mizuki Inaba, who was looking at him rather oddly. There were several more that he couldn't place. Behind them were seated the balance of the De Danaan's crew in attendance.

Once everyone was seated, the outer doors of the vestibule were closed and Nabiki and Melissa took up positions flanking the inner doors leading into the chapel. Then the wedding march began to play as the bride's maids began their march up the aisle. First to enter was Kyouko Tokiwa, Kaname's best friend from high school. She moved down the aisle and took her position across from Kurz. Following her was the maid of honor, Tessa, looking radiant in her gown. Ranma smiled as he heard Sousuke gulp audibly. The petite girl managed, to everyone's surprise, to complete her trek up the aisle without incident. She smiled at Sousuke as she took her position across from him, a step below Ranma. Then the music changed.

Ranma's breath was sucked from his lungs as the bride, his bride, appeared in the doorway on the arm of Lt. Commander Kalinin who was to give her away in the absence of her father. Ranma felt light headed as he stared mesmerized at the ethereal beauty of the vision before him. Her pure white dress and long train shimmered as she began the hesitation step down the aisle, seeming to glow with an unearthly light. Her face was hidden beneath the vial the covered her head and her head was bowed demurely as she was led toward him by Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin. He had never imagined such beauty had existed before this moment as he stood entranced as this angel that he could never possibly be worthy of grew closer and closer. Ranma felt Sousuke's hand on his back steadying him and he realized he hadn't taken a breath since Kaname had entered the room. He realized he had been about to swoon.

Then she was before him. Everything about her, the scent of her perfume, the shimmer of the satin, the rustled of lace, her quickened breathing, it all assaulted Ranma's senses as he drank in her presence like a man dying of thirst. He was so enthralled, so filled with love for this maiden before him that he nearly missed the minister as he began.

"Who gives this bride away?" he said loudly.

"In the absence of her father, I, Andrey Kalinin, her commanding officer, have that honor," Kalinin said in a firm steady voice. That was when all hell broke loose.

The wall behind the bridesmaids and Kaname blew apart in a shower of debris. Ranma, before he was fully aware of what he was doing, spun around Kaname so quickly he seemed to disappear from sight. When he reappeared he was holding the shaft of an arrow that he had stopped centimeters from plunging into Kaname's back and going through her heart. Before he had time for anything else, he was forced to dodge as chains with bladed weapons attached to the end flew through the space he was in.

While this was all happening, the doors to the chapel burst asunder and a man garbed in a hamaka charged in with live steel bared, followed by a dark haired female in a familiar black wedding gown. Ranma's worst nightmare was realized.

As Ranma was forced to dodge the chains, a purple haired Amazon charged though the hole she'd made while dropping the bow that had launched the arrow at the bride. Before anyone could act, she leaped over to Kaname while pulling a sword. The Amazon grabbed the shocked bride in a joint lock from behind and reached around placing the razor edge of the sword at her throat. Meanwhile, the groom was dodging chains and katana swings from the enraged men attacking him.

"Foul sorcerer, for destroying the mind of the fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and turning her away from her true love, myself, the manliest of men, and for spiriting away the pigtailed goddess, I shall slay you!" Kuno shouted. "Perpare to die, demon enslaver of women!"

"For what you've done to my Shampoo, I will kill you, you honorless ronin!" Mousee yelled.

"Oh Ranma-sama," Kodachi said, issuing her bone chilling laugh. "At last the day of our wedding has arrived!"

It was then that the rest of the gathering finally shook themselves out of their disbelief and reacted. The chapel was filled with the metallic sound of many firearm actions cycling. The attackers froze as they noticed no less than 150 various firearms pointed at them. Kalinin had his Takarov out and resting at the base of Shampoo's skull. Sousuke had his Glock 26 trained on Mousse while Kurz had his H&K USP covering Kuno. Kodachi was sweating, frozen in place by the 12ga barrel of Melissa's Mossberg 590 resting in her cleavage. The remaining armed crew of the De Danan picked a target they could see and covered it. As everyone stood still, Ranma looked reproachfully at Nabiki who shook her head emphatically.

"I swear, it wasn't me, Ranma," Nabiki said sincerely. That's when Shampoo chimed in.

"Husband come back to China with Shampoo or girl dies," the Amazon threatened.

More quickly than the eye could follow, Ranma's Beretta 96G appeared in his hand and trained itself unwaveringly on Shampoo's eye.

"If you so much as kink a hair of the woman I love, you will regret the day you were ever born," Ranma growled. "Let her go and I'll let you live." Shampoo blanched at the steel hard look in Ranma's eyes, but nerved herself.

"Does not matter if Shampoo dies," she said in a cold tone. "Shampoo cannot return to village without husband. If no can return to village, then Shampoo rather die."

"There are ways and ways of dying Shampoo," Ranma said in an arctic tone that promised suffering. "You can take days or months to die, and I promise you, if you take her from me I will make your death last a very long time and you will be in unimaginable agony until hell claims your murdering soul. And I won't stop there. I will see that your village is labeled the terrorist threat it is and will personally lead a battalion of Arm Slaves to raze it to the ground and kill every man, woman, and child there, right down to the stray dogs in the streets." Shampoo paled at such a threat to her people. "Don't think I won't do it either. If you take her, you take my humanity and after I have made you and your entire village pay for your arrogance; I'll follow her to the next life."

"But you is Shampoo husband," Shampoo argued. "Law says so!"

"I don't give a damn about your backward pimple-on-the-ass-of-China village laws," Ranma growled. "I beat you in a fight over food, goddammit. I never wanted to marry you. I never even liked you. And now, seeing how low you'll stoop, I HATE YOUR FUCKING GUTS YOU BLOOD THIRSTY WHORE!"

Hearing the girl he loved insulted so, Mousse forgot about the many weapons directed at him and he lunged at Ranma. Ranma's eyes never left Shampoo's as he swung the .40 caliber Berretta around and fired. Mousse grunted as the bullet slammed into his torso and threw him backward onto his back.

"Stay down, asshole, or the next one won't be aimed at a 'hidden' weapon," Ranma growled. "Now let her go, you stupid bitch." The Berretta retrained itself on her eye. Shampoo looked thoughtful for a few minutes before speaking.

"Shampoo think you bluffing," Shampoo said. "You no killer. Ranma too too nice to follow threw on threat."

"It doesn't matter if he would follow through on it," Kalinin said from behind her. "If He doesn't then I will, as her commanding officer. I have the power to make it happen, and I WILL make it happen if you harm one of my people."

"You have no idea who I am now, Shampoo," Ranma spat. "I'm a warrior. I've been in combat and I've killed to protect my colleagues. You saw what I did to Saffron for threatening Akane. What do you suppose I'm capable of doing to you considering what I felt for Akane was like a candle next to the sun compared to what I feel for the woman you are threatening?"

Shampoo looked into the cold hard eyes of the man she had chased for so long and saw a burning hatred there. She shuddered as she saw that he really was willing to follow through with his threats. They were the eyes of a man that was about to have nothing to lose, and they held nothing of the softness or compassion they used display so clearly. Shampoo was suddenly afraid. Slowly she lowered her sword and released the woman she held as the sword clattered to the floor.

Kaname rushed into Ranma's arms and tearfully clung to him as he held her. As the couple clung to one another, Kuno decided he'd been silent long enough.

"Honorless cur," He said taking a step forward, "You have not dealt with I, the great...erk"

"Shut up, jackass," Ryoga said as he removed his fist from the top of Kuno's head where it had been driven into the floor. Ranma gave him a smile of thanks.

"I was going to go as crazy as he is if I had to listen to his mouth anymore," Ryoga shrugged.

Ranma pushed Kaname away gently before assuming seiza before her. He bowed touching his head to the floor.

"I'm very sorry, Kaname," Ranma said. "I have allowed my past to ruin what was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives. I understand if you do not wish to marry this worthless ronin after this."

"Oh no, Ranma," Kaname spoke, "You aren't getting off the hook that easily, mister. It's our wedding day and it will be the happiest day of our lives, in spite of this little...drama. Please get up, my Love. We have a ceremony to complete. You will not be a ronin after today and you were never worthless. You are the man I love and you WILL be my husband after today."

Ranma stood, smiling in spite of the shimmer of tears in his eyes. The intruders were quickly disarmed and a detail was formed to guard them with instruction that if they 'moved, spoke, or so much as farted', they were to be shot.

"I'm very sorry, sir," Ranma said to the minister, "for the violence you have been forced to witness in this holy place. Will you still perform the ceremony?"

"What's done is done, my son," the minister said. "All we can do is carry on. If nobody has any further objections? Good, then everyone take your places and we'll proceed."

The rest of the ceremony went off with out a hitch. Most of the gathered crowd was touched as the bride and groom tearfully exchanged their vows and rings, and then tenderly kissed each other. They then proceeded back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Ranma Chidori and stood in the vestibule as the guests filed out offering them congratulations before heading to the reception.

"Lieutenant, what shall we do with these four?" one of the guard detail asked after the guests left, leaving only the groomsmen, bridesmaids, Nabiki, Melissa, and Kalinin remaining.

Ranma looked at the intruders and sighed. He squeezed Kaname's hand before releasing her and stepping up to them.

"You two," he addressed the Kuno's. "I dislike you in the extreme. I left Nerima to get away from your idiocy. You are both delusional maniacs and you need to get help. I urge you to do so. I'm married now, and our paths need not cross again. However, if you feel that you can't leave well enough alone, the organization I work for has enough pull with the Japanese government that if you continue to harass me I will have you committed to a mental institution and no amount of Kuno clan money or influence will get you out. Forget about me. We will all be happier that way."

"That goes for the Tendo's as well, Kuno," Nabiki added.

"As for you," Ranma turned to the Amazons, "I don't care what you do from now on. Go home, make a new home here, it doesn't matter. But know this, if you attempt to harm me or mine again, you will be in for a world of pain. I won't tolerate your ridiculous behavior any longer. As I told the nutjobs, our paths need not cross again. I'm through with you. Forget about me." The four glared hatefully at Ranma as he turned to the guards. "After we leave, let them go. Thank you for keeping them from interfering further and I hope to see you at the reception."

"Roger, Lieutenant," the guards said. With that, the remaining wedding party left for the reception.

_**OOOOOOO**_

"Everyone, can I have you attention, please?" Ranma said standing at the head of the table. When everyone settled down and gave him their attention, he continued, "I just wanted to say a few things I've learned about love over the years. When some of you first met me, I was pretty ignorant of anything outside of martial arts. I didn't know anything about this thing called love. As I began to learn more about it, I got scared of it. I was terrified to give somebody that sort of power over me. I saw it as a weakness to be avoided. I really didn't understand it then. Then I met Kaname. Both of us had been hurting because of this thing we thought was love and we both wanted to avoid such a complication. We became best friends, drawn together by the pain we both felt. We didn't realize it, but as we became closer, something else began to grow from the mutual respect and admiration we had for one another. A connection was made. Maybe part of us did realize it after a while, but we didn't want to risk our friendship with that sort of complication, so for a while we denied it.

"Then came one night on a beach. Thanks to some really good friends, we found the courage to begin to confront our feelings. We acknowledged our interest, if not fully what we felt, and we began to explore the possibilities. For me, it was a profound moment when I realized her smile filled me with light and warmth like I had never felt before. When I looked in her eyes, I saw only her desire for me to be happy, no expectations, no agendas, nothing but caring and warmth. It was then when I began to realize what love really was. Over the next year, our feelings for each other grew and solidified and I thought a lot about why what we had was so special, so much stronger than I could have ever imagined. This is what I learned.

"To have what we have is a total loss of self to the other. I don't have to think about what's best for me with her because I have complete faith in her and the fact that she will work miracles to make sure I'm happy and taken care of. This faith frees me to concentrate all my efforts to make sure she's happy and taken care of. We don't have to hold anything back for our selves because the other is constantly giving that to us. It's magical and I suspect it's a very rare thing to happen. In a very real way, her life is my life, as my life is hers. She carries and protects my very soul with her, as I carry and protect hers. To lose her would be to lose my soul and my life." Ranma held up his champagne glass in toast.

"To the sun in my sky, my world, my source of life. To the person who taught me the true meaning of love and how very powerful it could be, instead of the weakness I once thought it was. To my incomparably beautiful, unbelievably magnificent wife, Kaname!"

"Kanpai!" the gathered guests said and drank to the toast.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Kaname mistrusted the mischievous glint in Ranma's eyes as they cut the cake. Largely because she suspected that it matched her own. They carefully placed a slice of cake each on a plate and they each picked up their slice offering it to the other. As Ranma bite into her offering, she thrust her hand forward, smearing the cake all over his face, even as the same event happed to her as she bite into his offering. They both laughed like idiots and began to clean the cake off the others face with licks and kisses.

_**OOOOOOO**_

Kaname savored the opening notes of Sore Ga Ai Deshou as Ranma held her tightly to him. Through out the song, they twirled gracefully about the floor and each felt every word of the lyrics. So lost in each other were they, that they missed the end of the song and kept dancing. Nobody begrudged them. When they finally realized that the music had stopped, they separated, blushing.

Kaname danced next with Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin, who was playing the part of her father today. For the mother/son dance, Kaname had a little surprise modification for Ranma. A cup of cold water later and a petite female Ranma danced with her wife to the shock of Kaname's friends who still hadn't believed it until then. They did, however, take it in stride since nobody else was freaking out about it. Although, they did require several further demonstrations.

Then it was the bridesmaids and the groomsmen's turn. Sousuke and Tessa looked lovely together as they danced, looking deeply into the others eyes. They looked almost as in love with each other as Ranma and Kaname did. Everyone was shocked when Sousuke the clueless bent down and captured the petite captain's lips in a tender kiss and, according to those close enough to hear, said, "I love you, Tessa." The girl immediately began to swoon, but Sousuke's strong arms supported her.

After that, several of the guys in their immediate circle got a chance to dance with Kaname. The girls got their choice of Ranma's male or female form. Ranma danced with Kasumi, who was thrilled for Ranma and gushed about the joy she could see in the young man. Ukyo also got her chance though it was a bitter sweet thing for her. She told Ranma she was happy for him, but that she wished it could have been her. Of course, Nabiki and Melissa both took a turn with Ranma in female form, but kept it much more reserved than they had the night before. Perhaps the most unusual dance partners that night were Ranma in female form and Dr. Tofu. Ranma suspected that somebody had put him up to it as a joke, but she trusted the kind doctor and agreed. That somebody, Ranma suspected, was Kaname taking another shot as getting Ranma comfortable with being a girl.

During the night, Ranma, Kaname and Nabiki took the good Doctor aside and made the offer for him to come work for Mithril. He agreed to think about it.

Then it was time for the happy couple to depart for their one night stay in the honeymoon sweet of a ritzy Tokyo hotel followed by a trip to the airport where they would begin a month long tour of Europe. The pair ran the gauntlet of rice throwers to the waiting limo and began their first night of marital bliss.

_**OOOOOOO**_


End file.
